Rhode Island Woman Pleads Guilty to Mortgage Fraud Scheme

Lisa Torres, formerly of Johnston, R.I., pleaded guilty to a $1.7 million mortgage fraud scheme in which she purchased properties that had recently been foreclosed upon, and then used the names of straw purchasers in sham sales to finagle mortgage financing. According to Peter F. Neronha, U.S. attorney for the District of Rhode Island, between October 2007 and June 2008, Torres purchased nine residential properties in Providence. She then enlisted the aid of others, some willing participants, others unwitting dupes, to arrange sham sales of the properties at inflated prices in order to obtain mortgage financing. The loan proceeds went to Torres, the purported seller of the properties, so she profited the difference between what she had paid for the properties, about $1.1 million, and what she purportedly sold them for, about $1.7 million. Torres is currently serving a federal prison sentence for obstruction of justice, conspiracy and making false statements, a case that was prosecuted in U.S. District Court, Massachusetts. She is due to be released on Jan. 26, 2010. Sentencing for the fraud scheme has not yet been scheduled.