Report: $200M Central Florida Mortgage Fraud Probe In The Pipeline; Ringleader, Title Agent Come Clean; Cooperate With Feds In Effort To Sack Others

In Central Florida, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reports:

• Craig Adams, orchestrator of one of the largest real estate fraud rings in Florida history, has secretly spent more than a year and a half as an FBI informant, helping build cases against the people he once recruited into his schemes, the Herald-Tribune has learned. Federal court records show Adams has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges at a later date and has pledged his help in an attempt to earn leniency. In at least one instance, Adams wore a wire to record a conversation with a key business associate.

• So far he has laid bare at least $200 million in fraudulent property deals, incriminated more than 30 of his former business partners and given the FBI enough evidence to arrest his longtime title agent, Lisa Rotolo, the court records show. Adams' role as informant is described in a federal criminal complaint related to Rotolo's April arrest. [... Husband] Jay Rotolo told the Herald-Tribune his wife is also cooperating with what U.S. Attorney Brian Albritton's office calls an ongoing investigation.

• "My wife has been working with the FBI for a year now," Jay Rotolo said. "Do you know what kind of a position this story puts her in? Yes, she got her finger in a mess, but we have never profited from any of this." The Rotolo complaint and supporting affidavit provide a glimpse into what could become the FBI's largest mortgage fraud case in Florida.

For more, see FBI builds its case in flipping schemes.

Go here for Federal complaint against Lisa Rotolo.

For earlier Sarasota Herald Tribune stories on this probe, see:

• The king of the Sarasota flip,
• Title agent closed 100 Adams deals.