Federal officials yesterday arrested 16 people who they said were involved in two multimillion-dollar Long Island mortgage fraud schemes

Arrested included Robert Guerrero, 33, who Brooklyn federal prosecutors said controlled Property Cash Inc. of Greenlawn. According to an indictment unsealed yesterday, Property Cash was nominally in the name of his girlfriend, Alison Edelman, 30, who was also charged.Federal officials yesterday arrested 16 people who they said were involved in two multimillion-dollar Long Island mortgage fraud schemes, including one suspected of being tied to a drug distribution ring.The schemes are believed by investigators to have bilked lenders of a total of $13.9 million through finance companies in both Nassau and Suffolk counties.Federal agents also arrested Gary Jacques, 33, who according to court papers controlled Home Cash Inc. of Huntington Station.According to the indictment, Guerrero and Jacques used straw buyers with good credit to fraudulently obtain mortgages to pay for homes in Huntington, Greenlawn, Bay Shore and Uniondale at inflated prices.Guerrero and Jacques gained control of the properties through use of a "foreclosure rescue scheme" in which they promised homeowners in danger of defaulting on their mortgages that they could sign their properties over to Home Cash or Property Cash, a method that stole the equity, the indictment charged.The various straw buyers, who were paid up to $10,000 for their participation, had their credit inflated by Guerrero and Jacques, the indictment stated. Once Guerrero and Jacques got the properties, they flipped them at prices inflated with the help of licensed appraisers, prosecutors charged. The scheme lost lenders $8.8 million, prosecutors said.Straw buyers and two appraisers were also charged with fraud and other crimes.Guerrero and Jacques used some of the properties for cocaine smuggling and distribution, which they were charged with in a separate indictment.A second mortgage fraud scheme that hit lenders for $4.9 million using straw buyers and false loan applications led to the arrest of Michael McEnroe, 37, and Ryan Gosin, 34, who prosecutors said controlled Able Group and related companies, located in Baldwin and East Meadow. Also charged was Gloria Espenas, 43, of Plainview, a former vice president at a JP Morgan Chase bank branch. She's accused of signing bank forms that overstated the assets of straw buyers.Jacques, McEnroe and Espenas pleaded not guilty before a magistrate judge. Only Espenas was released on bail."She is a very honest woman," said Espenas' attorney, Robert Gottlieb.Sixteen people -- including drug smugglers, real estate appraisers and a bank employee -- hatched two multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud schemes involving overvalued suburban homes that were sometimes used as stash houses, authorities said.The defendants, arrested Wednesday, were awaiting arraignment in Brooklyn federal court on bank fraud, money laundering and drug trafficking charges. If convicted, they face up to 30 years in prison.In one scheme, the ring leaders recruited straw buyers to sign contracts on 19 homes in towns on Long Island, an indictment said. Using inflated values set by two crooked appraisers, the buyers applied for fraudulent loans that cheated lenders out of $8.8 million, it said.A second, similar plot on Long Island involved a branch bank vice president charged with overstating the assets of the straw buyers on loan forms on nine homes. That fraud cost lenders $4.9 million.Authorities said some of the defendants were corrupt brokers who used properties for a narcotics operation. They face separate charges of smuggling and distributing more than 5 kilograms of cocaine.

Federal officials yesterday arrested 16 people who they said were involved in two multimillion-dollar Long Island mortgage fraud schemes

Arrested included Robert Guerrero, 33, who Brooklyn federal prosecutors said controlled Property Cash Inc. of Greenlawn. According to an ind...

Read more »