Six plead guilty to fraud in Miami

Six men have pleaded guilty in federal court to hatching a scheme to sell condos to straw buyers.

The Justice Department claims that straw buyers were paid to submit false loan applications to lenders to buy condos, according to the Miami Herald. Often, the straw buyers defaulted on the loans after their co-conspirators stopped making mortgage payments, “causing millions of dollars in losses to lenders,’’ prosecutors said.

Seven other people were indicted in March on charges of participating in the scheme, but they have all pleaded not guilty and are scheduled for trial. [Miami Herald] – Christopher Cameron