Mother-Daughter Real Estate Team Arrested

Helen Sotiriadis and her daughter Irene Sotiriadis, both of Manteca, Calif., have been arrested on a charge of conducting a mortgage fraud scheme that caused $5 million in losses to lenders. Arrest warrants were issued after the FBI received information that the two suspects may have been intending to flee to Greece. According to Lawrence G. Brown, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, Helen and Irene Sotiriadis are alleged to have recruited as many as 25 members of the Cambodian immigrant community to purchase homes they could not afford in and around Stockton and Modesto. The mother-daughter team allegedly promised the Cambodians that, after one initial high monthly payment, the homes would be refinanced to a payment of $1,500 per month. After the initial monthly mortgage payments of $4,000 came due, Helen and Irene Sotiriadis allegedly refused to return phone calls to the victims. Most of the homes quickly fell into foreclosure.