Suspended lawyer gets 12 months in federal prison for his role in $3.5M mortgage fraud
Add another real estate closing attorney to the annals of those sentenced to serve time for playing a role in a mortgage fraud.
Suspended Connecticut lawyer Gabriel Serrano, 49, was sentenced Friday to 12 months and one day in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, according to the West Hartford Patch and WTNH.
Prosecutors in the Hartford case said he served as a closing attorney in dozens of transactions, representing co-conspirator Filippos Milios when he purchased properties with private financing and representing buyers when they purchased from Milios.
At least some of the transactions involved false representations to mortgage lenders that the buyers intended to occupy the homes as their primary residences, fraudulent down payments and false HUD-1 closing forms. Frequently, lenders were led to believe that the buyer was making a down payment that, in fact, did not exist, according to the government.
The scheme cost lenders some $3.5 million.
Serrano pleaded guilty in 2013 to two counts: conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit mail and bank fraud, the West Hartford Patch reported at the time.
Milios and three other co-defendants took pleas earlier. Milios was sentenced to 97 months and the other three got 13 to 30 months.
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Teary Attorney Who Cooperated with Feds and Tried to Atone for Mortgage Fraud Gets 2.5 Years”
ABAJournal.com: “Huge’ Number of Lawyers Accused In Civil and Criminal Mortgage-Related Fraud Cases”
