An attorney licensed to practice in New Jersey pleaded guilty to conspiring with Hudson County businessman Rene Abreu and others to commit mail fraud, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.
Ciro Mederos, 43, of Teaneck, New Jersey whose law practice is in Union City, New Jersey pleaded guilty to a one-count Information, charging him with conspiring with Abreu and other employees and associates of The Mortgage Pros, Inc., to defraud several financial institutions by fraudulently submitting fictitious loan-related documents to these institutions. The goal was to induce the institutions to issue residential loans to clients of The Mortgage Pros, Inc., according to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carlos Ortiz and Deborah Goldklang.
Abreu was one of 11 individuals indicted in a 43-count Indictment in May, 2002. The Indictment charged multiple conspiracies including mail fraud, extortion and cash structuring in excess of $2 million, as well as several bank fraud schemes, money laundering, bribery of bank officials and more.
Mederos appeared before U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway, Jr. to plead guilty in a cooperating plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. No sentencing date was set. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The West New York corruption investigation continues.
Mederos admitted that his responsibilities as an attorney included representing buyers and sellers at real estate closings for buyers who had obtained mortgages through The Mortgage Pros, Inc. Mederos further admitted entering into an illegal agreement with Abreu and others to prepare, sign and submit false HUD-1 settlement statements containing materially false information on behalf of clients of The Mortgage Pros, because these clients did not have the financial means necessary to obtain loans through legitimate means.
