Four mortgage fraudsters to serve prison time

Four convicted mortgage fraudsters are heading to state prison after sentencing for their participation in a $100 million mortgage fraud scheme carried out through AFG Financial Group, where they were principals. The defendants, Aaron Hand, Kenneth Law, Eric Shields and Jerry Strklja, were found guilty of multiple felonies including enterprise corruption, scheme to defraud, conspiracy and dozens of grand larcenies in July, two years after the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office launched an investigation into AFG called “Operation Broken Brownstone.” Hand was sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in state prison, while Shields got a maximum of 16-and-a-half years, Law got a maximum of 15 years, and Strklja received a maximum of nine years, the DA’s office said. TRD