Manuel Ruiz Quiroz, 43, Miami, Florida has been convicted of two counts of mail fraud in connection with his submission of false documents in his applications for mortgages to refinance and purchase two homes, one at 352 SW Lakehurst Drive and the other at 866 SW Curry Street, Port St. Lucie, Florida. The two closings took place on February 10, 2006.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Quiroz lied about his place of work, income, and personal assets in order to obtain more than $400,000 in mortgage loans. Quiroz procured and submitted false pay stubs, W2 tax forms, and forged bank statements that inflated his personal account balance, thus qualifying him for the loans. In addition to the two transactions in February 2006, the evidence showed that Quiroz had engaged in the same type of fraud in connection with another home purchase in January 2005.
The verdict was returned after a one-day trial before U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore. Sentencing has been scheduled for September 13, 2010, at 1:30 p.m. Defendant Quiroz was remanded pending sentencing.
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Criminal Investigative Division, made the announcement.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative work of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division on this case. In addition, Mr. Ferrer thanked Credit Suisse, JP Morgan Chase, Saxon Mortgage, Bank of America, and TD Bank (formerly Riverside National Bank) for their cooperation during this investigation. Mr. Ferrer also commended the Port St. Lucie Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration for their assistance. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Cooperstein.
The issue I have with this type of fraud is that most “lenders” don’t care about falsified applications UNLESS the property goes into foreclosure…even if they are notified that the information provided was false on the application.