A North Miami Beach resident is heading to federal prison for leading a $3.5 million mortgage fraud scheme in South Florida, the mortgage fraud capital of America.
Shayeh Dov was sentenced to over seven years in prison and ordered to pay more than $3 million in restitution after targeting the Orthodox Jewish community in South Florida and New York with fake investments.
Dov pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in February for his role in the fraud, which began in May 2012 and continued until May of this year, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Court records show that Dov stole money from investors in the Orthodox Jewish community by promising them lucrative investments in mortgage notes. He used the money to pay for personal and travel expenses, like gambling, mortgage payments on his home, trips to the Bahamas, Israel and New York, and luxury car loans, including for a Maserati and Range Rover. The funds were not used to purchase the mortgage notes promised to investors.
Dov presented investors with opportunities to purchase distressed or foreclosed mortgage notes through companies he controlled – P&S Inc., Notez LLC, and Notes LLC – for properties in Broward, Miami-Dade and other counties in Florida.
Even after Dov pleaded guilty earlier this year, he again committed mortgage fraud for an additional $75,750 note and violated his bond, the sentencing document shows.
“Dov used the close-knit bonds of this community to con investors. In essence, the defendant was a predator that fed on the goodwill and trust of the Orthodox Jewish community,” according to the sentencing.
Earlier this year, a federal judge in Miami sentenced California man George French Jones to more than nine years in prison for his role in a mortgage fraud and identity theft scheme in South Florida.
Mortgage fraud is on the rise as more buyers are inflating their incomes in order to qualify for new purchases. States like Florida, New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C. and New Mexico are most at risk, according to data from CoreLogic.