Four charged in criminal scheme involving mortgage fraud

Four people have been indicted and charged with mortgage fraud as part of an extensive and widespread criminal scheme in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes announced today.  

Between 2006 and 2008, Ryan Foster, Nathaniel Mahone, Jacques Sylvestre and Yanira Santiago allegedly purchased properties by employing straw buyers and crooked real estate brokers who filed false paperwork, then used stolen merchandise from home improvement stores to increase their values before refinancing. The defendants face a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

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Foster, Mahone, Sylvestre and nine others were also charged with automobile insurance fraud, credit card fraud, and identity theft as part of the same criminal ring, for which they face additional time behind bars.

The indictments were the culmination of an 18-month joint investigation between the district attorney’s office and the U.S. Secret Service. TRD