Elleni Berger, 44, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti to three years in prison, followed by three years of probation, for her role in a mortgage fraud scheme.
As previously reported by Mortgage Fraud Blog, Berger and her husband, Randy Berger, pleaded guilty in federal court to a charges of Wire Fraud Conspiracy in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme. Elleni Berger also pleaded guilty to a charge of Filing a False Tax Return.
In connection with the guilty plea and court information, the Bergers operated All Credit Finance, which was a mortgage broker company that assisted borrowers obtain financing collateralized by real estate. The couple participated in a conspiracy in which they and other members of the conspiracy submitted fraudulent loan applications on behalf of borrowers that overstated their financial condition, and a series of fraudulent documents that supported those misrepresentations. In addition, Randy and Elleni Berger submitted appraisals that were fraudulent in that the appraisals overstated the values of the properties that were serving as collateral for the loans, and represented that they had been prepared by licensed appraisers when, in fact, they were not prepared by licensed appraisers.
Elleni Berger also filed false tax returns that were false in that they reported significantly less income than she actually earned.
Randy Berger is scheduled to be sentenced March 21, 2011.
It’s Pittsburgh. Pittsburg is in Kansas.