Massachusetts Mortgage Officer Receives Sentence

After pleading guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to multiple charges in connection with her fraudulent activity in securing subprime mortgages for several unqualified homebuyers, Nicole Lyder of Dorchester, Mass., has been sentenced by Suffolk Superior Court Judge Christine McEvoy to serve two years in prison. Beginning in November 2005, Lyder engaged in fraudulent activity in order to secure subprime mortgage loans for several homebuyers in Dorchester, Randolph and Taunton, Mass. Lyder, working as a mortgage officer for a Quincy, Mass.-based mortgage company, engaged in this activity without the knowledge of the homebuyers and with the knowledge that the buyers would not otherwise qualify for mortgages. After receiving a complaint about Lyder in September 2006, the attorney general's office began an investigation into Lyder's activities, focusing on mortgage loans that Lyder assisted homebuyers in securing (two for properties in Dorchester, one in Randolph and one in Taunton). Investigators found that Lyder had forged business certificates, which contained false information relating to the financial status of the homebuyers. Lyder then submitted those forged business certificates on behalf of the homebuyers. In addition, in each of these four home purchases Lyder also exaggerated the homebuyers' financial standing on various other documents submitted to Fremont in support of the loan applications. As a result of this fraudulent activity, Lyder collected thousands of dollars in commissions.