Lawyer indicted in mortgage-fraud case, accused of using another attorney's identity on closing docs
A New Jersey real estate lawyer was indicted Wednesday along with 11 co-defendants, accused of participating in a mortgage-fraud scheme that obtained bank loans totalling nearly $1 million to purchase three properties by providing false information to lenders.
The claimed scheme involved residential properties purchased at discounted prices in short sales and then almost immediately resold for much more to other participants or individuals whose identifying information was used without their knowledge, according to the state attorney general’s office.
Attorney Andrys Sofia Gomez, 47, acted as closing attorney and allegedly used another lawyer’s name on a number of documents to conceal from lenders the true nature of the transactions, the Daily Record and NJ Advance Media report.
Gomez is also accused of funneling money to her own trust account through the other attorney’s trust account. The other lawyer was Amedeo Gaglioti, who pleaded guilty in 2012 in a related money-laundering conspiracy case, the articles say. He has not yet been sentenced.
Gomez and the other 11 defendants are charged with conspiracy, money laundering and theft by deception in the Mercer County case.
The articles don’t include any comment from Gomez and the Advance story says a lawyer for Gomez did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
