A well-known Hudson County businessman and his wife were charged in an Indictment with multiple bank fraud schemes, including mortgage fraud, check-kiting, money laundering, cash structuring in excess of $2 million, bribery of bank officials, and more, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

Rene Abreu, 40, of Fort Lee and Lourdes Adan-Abreu, his wife, 39, together own several Hudson County-based companies, including The Mortgage Pros, Inc., Abreu Real Estate and RLA Homes. Each of the companies were used to facilitate the various bank and mail frauds alleged in the Indictment, according to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carlos F. Ortiz and Deborah L. Goldklang.

Also charged was Luis Nieves, 56, of Leonia, New Jersey, a senior vice president for Hudson United Bank. The Indictment accuses Nieves of accepting a bribe for assisting Abreu obtain a commercial loan. Nieves is also charged with assisting Abreu in a check-kiting scheme that spanned five years that, at times, created a negative balance in Abreu's accounts in excess of $1 million. Nieves is further charged with money laundering.

Eight others are charged in the 43-count Indictment: Ana Martell, 34 of North Bergen; Kathy Giunta, 43, of North Bergen; Valeriano Sanchez, 38, of Parsippany; Fernandez Jimenez; Edgardo Aguirre; Ronald Rosner; Jose Cervino, 43; of Ridgefield, and Manuel Mier, 47, of Hillside.

Abreu and Mier turned themselves in voluntarily to the FBI in Newark, while the following defendants were arrested: Martell, Sanchez, Nieves and Cervino.

Six of the defendants made initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan D. Wigenton: Abreu, Martell, Sanchez, Nieves, Cervino and Mier.

An arraignment on the Indictment for all of the defendants is scheduled for May 23 at 10 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr., the judge assigned to hear the case.

The Indictment was returned on May 2 by a federal grand jury in Newark, New Jersey and unsealed May 8, 2002.

Counts One and Two of the Indictment charge Abreu, his wife, Martell, Giunta, Sanchez, Jimenez, Aguirre, Rosner and Nieves with conspiring to commit mail fraud. The counts allege that Rene Abreu and other employees and associates of The Mortgage Pros, Inc. fraudulently submitted fictitious loan-related documents to several financial institutions, to induce the institutions to issue residential and commercial loans to clients of The Mortgage Pros, Inc.

Count Two of the indictment specifically accuses Luis Nieves, as senior vice president at Hudson United Bank, of facilitating the mail fraud scheme by processing certain of the commercial loan applications on behalf of Hudson United Bank, and misrepresenting the financial status of the borrowers to the loan review committee at Hudson United Bank. Count 16 also charges Nieves with bank bribery, in connection with his solicitation and receipt of approximately $3,000 from another individual, while an officer and employee of Hudson United, as a reward for his assistance in helping the individual obtain a commercial loan.

Counts Three through 12 of the indictment charge specific acts of mail fraud affecting financial institutions, engaged in by Abreu, Lourdes Adan-Abreu, Jimenez, Giunta, Martell, Sanchez and Jose Cervino.

Count 14 further charges Abreu, his wife, Martell (an employee of The Mortgage Pros, Inc. and Chief Financial Officer of RLA Homes), and Nieves with conspiring to defraud Hudson United Bank, by engaging in a fraudulent check-kiting scheme, whereby they continuously drew checks on Abreu's commercial bank accounts with insufficient funds at Hudson United and credited other of Abreu's accounts with these seemingly bona fide checks, in order to pay the business and personal expenses of Abreu and others.

Counts 13 and 15 also charge Abreu, Lourdes Adan-Abreu, Martell and Nieves with conspiring to engage in money laundering, involving the proceeds of both the check-kiting scheme described in Count 14 and the mail fraud scheme described in Counts One and Three through 12.

Count 17 charges that Abreu and Mier conspired to extort money for the protection of illegal gambling. The count alleges that Abreu and Mier demanded and accepted from Alexander V. Oriente, the former chief of police in West New York, bribe and protection money from the proceeds of the video gambling business of Boardwalk Amusements, a West New York business.

Boardwalk Amusements had been conducting illegal gambling operations with the knowledge and protection of the West New York Police Department (the "WNYPD"). In exchange for the protection and promotion of this activity by the WNYPD, the owners of Boardwalk Amusements and others made bribe and protection payments directly to Oriente and other WNYPD officers. Abreu and Mier demanded that Oriente deliver to them the Boardwalk Amusements extortion proceeds, and represented to Oriente that they were acting on behalf of a high-level West New York public official. From in or about June 1995 to in or about July 1997, Rene Abreu and Manuel Mier received these cash payments from Oriente and others.

Count 18 charges Abreu, Lourdes Adan-Abreu, Martell, Giunta, Aguirre and Mier with conspiring to structure currency transactions, by causing in excess of $2 million to be deposited into accounts at Hudson United Bank and other financial institutions in amounts of less than $10,000, to avoid the filing of currency transaction reports by the financial institutions, as required by law. Counts 19 through 42 also charge Abreu, his wife, Martell, Giunta and Aguirre with specific acts of structuring currency transactions.

Count 43 charges Lourdes Adan-Abreu with bribing a bank employee, in that she gave to a bank teller at Hudson United Bank more than $5,000 in cash payments to influence the bank teller in connection with the business and transactions of Hudson United Bank.

The indictment also contains two forfeiture allegations: the first forfeiture allegation seeks forfeiture of a monetary judgment of $846,320 representing the total amount of money involved in the structuring offenses charged in Counts 19 through 42, as well as the forfeiture of three lots and/or parcels of land by Abreu, his wife, Martell, Guinta and Aguirre. The second forfeiture allegation seeks forfeiture of a monetary judgment of $300,000 representing the total amount of money involved in the money laundering offenses charged in Counts 13 and 15, as well as the forfeiture of one lot and/or parcel of land.

(See two addendums for details on charges and potential penalties, as well as a recitation of the defendants and the counts in the Indictment against each of them).

The charges contained in the Indictment are only accusations. Despite Indictment, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and federal law.

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Summary of Charges, Penalties - Abreu et al. Indictment

Counts 1 and 2 charge conspiracy to commit mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1341.

Each conspiracy count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine or twice the gross loss to the victim(s) or gain to the defendant.

Counts 3 through 12 charge mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 2.

Each mail fraud count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine or twice the gross loss to the victim(s) or gain to the defendant.

Count 13 and 15 charge two counts of conspiracy to commit money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1956(h), 1956(a)(1)(A)(i).

Each money laundering conspiracy count carries a maximum penalty of twenty years in prison and a $500,000 fine or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, whichever is greater.

Count 14 charges conspiracy to commit bank fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1344. (Same penalties as stated for Counts 1 and 2).

Count 16 charges bank bribery in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 215(a)(2) and 2.

The bank bribery count carries a maximum penalty of thirty years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine or three times the value of the thing given, offered, promised, solicited, demanded, or accepted, whichever is greater.

Count 17 charges conspiracy to extort money in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a).

The violation carries a maximum penalty of 20 years and a $250,000 fine or twice the gross loss to the victim(s) or gain to the defendant.

Count 18 charges conspiracy to structure currency transactions in violation of 31 U.S.C. §§ 5324(a)(3) and (d)(1) and 18 U.S.C. §371.

(Same penalties as stated for Counts 1 and 2 and 14).

Counts 19 through 42 charge structuring of currency transactions in violation of 31 U.S.C. §§ 5324(a)(3) and (d)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2.

The violations carry a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine or twice the gross loss to the victim(s) or gain to the defendant.

Counts 43 charges bank bribery in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 215(a)(1) and 2.

(Same penalties as stated for Count 16.)

The defendants are charged in the counts of the Indictment as follows:

Abreu: Counts One, Two, Three through 15 and Counts 17 through 42

Lourdes Adan-Abreu: Counts One, Three, Five, 13, 14, 15 and 18 through 43

Martell: Counts One, Two, Five, Six, 13, 14,15, 18, 20 through 23, 29, 36 and 40

Giunta: Counts One, Two, Four through Nine, 12, 18, 20, 22, 23 and 29

Sanchez: Counts One, Seven and Eight

Jimenez: Counts One and Four

Aguirre: Counts One, Six, 12, 18, 23, 40

Rosner: Count One

Nieves: Counts Two and 14 through 16

Cervino: Counts 10 and 11

Mier: Counts 17 and 18