Real Estate Agent Gets 8 Years For Selling Homes Out From Under Owners, Using Stolen IDs To Fraudulently Obtain Financing

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Los Angeles):

• A Lancaster man was sentenced [...] to eight years in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution of $777,000 in relation to a mortgage fraud scheme in which he “purchased” homes in Altadena and Riverside. Felix Pichardo, 27, was sentenced by United States District Judge Stephen V. Wilson. Pichardo pleaded guilty [...] in September, admitting that he used the identities of two victims to obtain mortgage loans for properties that were not for sale.

***

• According to court documents, Pichardo, a licensed real estate agent, and his co-defendant Latrice Shaunte Borders, 29, of Long Beach, participated in two separate fraudulent real estate sales transactions. Pichardo, using identities appropriated from other people, caused loan applications to be submitted to AmTrust bank in the amounts of $417,000 and $360,000. The loan applications were submitted without the property owner's knowledge for real estate which was not for sale. The proceeds of the two loans were deposited into bank accounts under the control of Pichardo and Borders.

For the U.S. Attorney press release, see Lancaster Real Estate Agent Sentenced To Eight Years In Federal Prison For Mortgage Fraud Scheme.

(1) In sentencing Pichardo, Judge Wilson cited the “callousness” of the offense, noting that Pichardo sought out elderly vulnerable victims and that he poses a danger to the community, the press release states.