Connecticut mortgage fraud scheme ringleader gets 9 years in prison
BRIDGEPORT >> A California man, indicted in New Haven, was sentenced to nine years in federal prison Monday for his leadership of a mortgage fraud scheme that spanned several states, according to the Connecticut U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Aria Maleki, 33, of Santa Ana, Calif., was arrested along with six others in January after investigators found Maleki had directed a fraud scheme that had cost more than 1,000 homeowners more than $3 million, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a release Monday.
“This defendant presided over a scheme that preyed on struggling homeowners in Connecticut and across the United States, falsely offering mortgage relief in exchange for thousands of dollars that the victims clearly could not afford to spend,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut Deirdre Daley said in the release. “The investigation revealed that the participants in this scheme specifically targeted homeowners who were behind on their mortgage payments, whose homes were ‘under water,’ or who had recently experienced a financial hardship, such as a lost job. This is an appropriate sentence for a defendant who profited handsomely from such heartless, criminal conduct. I thank our federal and state law enforcement partners in New England, New Jersey, California and Oklahoma for investigating this matter, shutting down this scam and bringing those responsible to justice.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office reports that Maleki and the other defendants, who have all pleaded guilty and await sentencing, called and victims and offered to provide mortgage loan modification services. The conspirators targeted those having trouble repaying home mortgages.
Read more: http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20160718/connecticut-mortgage-fraud-scheme-ringleader-gets-9-years-in-prison