N. New Jersey Man Pinched For Peddling Sale Leaseback Ripoffs Targeting High Equity Homeowners Facing Foreclosure Gets 21 Months

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Newark, New Jersey):

• A former employee of a Parsippany, N.J., mortgage lender who admitted taking $138,402 in illegitimate proceeds of multiple home sales as a result of a mortgage fraud scheme was sentenced [] to 21 months in prison, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
• Jorge Abbud, 33, of Dover, N.J., previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls to an Information charging him with wire fraud. Judge Walls imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.
• According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: In 2008, Abbud was an employee of a Parsippany mortgage lender. He admitted that he targeted homeowners in New Jersey who had equity in their homes, but were facing foreclosure because of their inability to pay their monthly mortgage payments.
• Abbud falsely promised to help these homeowners avoid foreclosure, keep their homes, and repair their damaged credit. He instructed the homeowners to permit the titles of their homes to be recorded in the names of third-party purchasers (“straw buyers”) for approximately one to three years, promising the homeowners that he would improve their credit scores during that time, obtain mortgages with more favorable interest rates for them and return the titles of the homes to the homeowners.(1)

For the U.S. Attorney press release, see Former Employee of Parsippany, N.J., Mortgage Lender Sentenced To 21 months In Prison For Fraud.

(1) For more on this type of foreclosure rescue ripoff, see:

• Criminal Prosecutions Of Sale Leaseback Peddlers In Equity Stripping Foreclosure Rescue Deals;
• Dreams Foreclosed: The Rampant Theft of Americans' Homes Through Equity-stripping Foreclosure 'Rescue' Scams (June 2005).