Closing Agent, Attorney Each Cop Guilty Pleas In Real Estate Escrow Ripoffs; Existing Mortgages Left Unpaid For Five Victimized Homeowners, Including One Scammer's Own Elderly Dad

From the Office of the Westchester County, New York District Attorney:

• Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore announced that Loronda Murphy (DOB 07/13/64) of 4 Heather Lane, Greenwich, Connecticut, pled guilty [] to:
  
  · one count of Residential Mortgage Fraud in the First Degree, a class “B” Felony,
  · one count of Residential Mortgage Fraud in the Second Degree, a class “C” Felony,
  
  In addition, Scott Forcino (DOB 04/12/66) of 400 Wilmot Road, New Rochelle, New York pled guilty to: one count of Criminal Facilitation in the Fourth Degree, a class “A” Misdemeanor.
  
  From April 2009 to June 2009, operating under the home mortgage closing company Settle One Corporation, with an office located at 428 Main Street in Armonk, New York, the defendants, Loronda Murphy and real estate attorney Scott Forcino, engaged in what amounted to a home mortgage fraud "Ponzi" scheme.
  
  The targeted homeowner/victims each took out a new mortgage on their home through Settle One Corporation with the understanding that real estate attorney Scott Forcino would oversee their closing and that money from their new mortgage would pay off their pre-existing mortgage.
  
  However, Forcino instead allowed Murphy to fraudulently assume the role of attorney for each closing, and, much to the homeowner's surprise, rather than paying off their pre-existing mortgage, Murphy instead stole portions of their new loan money and left their pre-existing mortgage unpaid.
  
  Murphy's theft then left the homeowner with the unsustainable burden of having multiple mortgages on their family home at one time.
  
  Over this time period the pair defrauded five victims including Murphy’s father. In addition to skimming money out of the Settle One Corporation bank account for her own personal benefit, Murphy also attempted to conceal her crimes by using money left in the Settle One bank account to make monthly mortgage payments on various unpaid mortgages and, in some cases, Murphy even stole one homeowner's new mortgage loan money and used it to pay off another homeowner's previously unpaid mortgage.
  
  In the three months, beginning in April of 2009 and ending in June of 2009, Murphy orchestrated the preparation and submission of a series of false mortgage documents in connection with five mortgage loan closings that resulted in her, through the Settle One bank account, receiving over one million dollars from two home mortgage lenders: Wells Fargo Bank and Live Well Financial.
  
  In turn, Murphy then stole over fifty thousand dollars in loan money from each of five Westchester County homeowners, including her own elderly father, all for her own personal financial gain and to cover up her continuing criminal activity.
  
  In September 2010, search warrants were executed leading to an eleven month investigation by the District Attorney’s office with the assistance of the Town of North Castle Police Department.

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• Murphy faces a maximum of twenty five years in state prison. As a condition of her plea, Murphy will have to pay $720,288 in restitution. The amount paid before sentencing will determine the length of her prison term.
  
  Forcino faces a maximum of one year jail. As a condition of his plea, Forcino will resign from the New York State Bar.
  
  Assistant District Attorney Brian Fitzgerald of the Economic Crimes Bureau – Mortgage Fraud Unit - prosecuted the case.

For the Westchester DA press release, see Former North Castle Republican Chairwoman Pleads Guilty In Residential Mortgage Fraud Scheme.