Lucilene Guido, 33, Kearny, New Jersey, a real estate agent and former loan officer at a northern New Jersey mortgage company, was sentenced to 12 months in prison for her role in various mortgage fraud scams that collectively sought to defraud lenders out of more than $5.5 million and involved 17 New Jersey properties.
Guido previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez to an Information charging her with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Judge Rodriguez imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Guido was one of three defendants charged by Complaint in connection with a scheme to obtain false bank statements and identification documents from another defendant who produced the documents at their request. Their arrests were part of a larger law enforcement takedown that included 12 real estate agents; four investors; four mortgage consultants; three fraudulent document makers; two accountants; an appraiser; a bank employee; and a mortgage broker.
The defendants sought to obtain fraudulent mortgages for real estate transactions involving prospective purchasers who were not qualified to obtain the loans they were seeking. The defendants made, obtained, and presented to mortgage lenders documents that falsified the purported borrowers’ employment, inflated their income and assets, and provided other fraudulent information. In some cases, those documents included fraudulent W-2 forms; pay stubs; employment verification letters; bank account statements; tax returns; addresses and telephone numbers for borrowers and purported employers; and identification documents such as driver’s licenses and social security cards.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Rodriguez sentenced Guido to three years of supervised release and fined her $1,000.
U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced the sentence.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward in Newark, and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Edward J. De Fazio, for the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. He thanked the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General, the IRS, the U.S. Secret Service, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their important contributions to the investigation. Fishman also thanked the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; the U.S. Social Security Administration; and the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office for their assistance.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charlton A. Rugg of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit.
it’s interesting that Guido had sufficient talent and knowlege to operate successfully within the law, but chose to ignore those attributes by not only breaking the law herself, but to also create an entire web of professionals willing to risk their careers as well.
Rife with Fraud, straw borrowers and forgery, Guido’s scheme required a certain level of sophistication and a great deal of coordination…similar to the functions of a legitimate mortgage consultant. Had she applied herself to operating within the law, she may have been quite successful.
in order to prevent such actions, far greater oversight should have been applied.
as a state regulator, an investigation of this magnitude would have to be run in a very careful and meticulous manner.