Queens mortgage fraud duo convicted

A real estate attorney and a former loan officer have been found guilty of perpetrating a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme out of a Queens-based mortgage brokerage, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Ravi Persaud, the attorney, and George Esso, the mortgage broker, submitted fraudulent loan applications that contained false information about borrowers’ employment and income on behalf of the mortgage applicants, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office. The pair profited handsomely from the scheme, receiving thousands of dollars from their illicit activities, which prosecutors say defrauded banks out of roughly $23 million. The time period when this fraud took place was not immediately clear. Esso and Persaud were each convicted on fraud charges and face maximum prison sentences of 60 years and 120 years, respectively. TRD