Texas Man, Like Wife, Faces Prison Time for Scheme

After pleading guilty to carrying out a mortgage fraud scheme involving three San Antonio and Spring Branch, Texas, residential properties, three financial institutions and more than $1 million in foreseeable losses, Fred DeGuzman of San Antonio, Texas, was sentenced to 75 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release and ordered to pay $1.67 million in restitution. In February, Fred's wife, Veronica DeGuzman, was sentenced to 75 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to the same scheme. Fred DeGuzman, using an alias, and Veronica DeGuzman contacted individual sellers of residential property and entered into agreements to purchase the property for an inflated price, with the excess of the stated price over the actual sales price being returned to a corporation owned and controlled by the defendants. Using the alias, as well as falsified employment and income information, Fred and Veronica DeGuzman applied for and obtained 100% financing. After one or two mortgage payments, the mortgage went into default causing losses to the lenders.