N.Y. Man Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Homeowners, Brokers

Riccardo White pleaded guilty in federal court in White Plains, N.Y., to charges relating to his participation in a scheme to defraud homeowners in the New York metropolitan area and mortgage brokers across the country. According to Michael J. Garcia, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, White and his co-conspirators engaged in a scheme to defraud homeowners around the New York metropolitan area through misrepresenting the terms of mortgages. White contacted homeowners and offered them mortgages with low interest rates and attractive rate caps. The terms of the mortgages obtained by homeowners from White and his co-conspirators were materially different from those White and his co-conspirators offered. The loss to the homeowners defrauded by the scheme was more than $1.3 million. White also participated in a scheme to defraud residential mortgage brokers throughout the country. He and his co-conspirators contacted residential mortgage brokers and sold them lists of names containing individuals purportedly interested in obtaining mortgages, as well as services associated with those lists. In actuality, the lists that they provided to the mortgage brokers were not lists of people interested in obtaining mortgages and the services the defendants promised to provide were not provided. The loss to the residential mortgage brokers defrauded by the scheme was more than $350,000. White is scheduled for sentencing on April 3, 2009.