Howard Gaines, an attorney and licensed title agent, has been convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and two counts of mail fraud. Trial on this matter began on Monday, November 17, 2008, before United States District Judge William Dimitrouleas.
At sentencing, Gaines faces a maximum of up to five years’ imprisonment on the conspiracy count and up to 20 years’ imprisonment on each mail fraud count. Sentencing is scheduled for February 10, 2009 at 1:15 p.m. Gaines was remanded into custody by the court following the verdict.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Gaines was a licensed title agent at Your Title Choice, Inc, in Deerfield Beach. Gaines, as a title agent, aided co-conspirator Anthony Dehaney and others to close on fraudulent loans. Among the fraudulent documents presented at closings were HUD 1 Settlement Forms, which falsely represented that buyers were using their own money to close on the purchases. The evidence showed that Gaines helped Dehaney close more than $10,000,000 in loans during 2004, 2005, and 2006, including $5,000,000 in fraudulent mortgages.
As previously reported on Mortgage Fraud Blog, there were 7 who were originally arrested and Gaines’ conviction was the sixth conviction in this matter, following five guilty pleas by other conspirators in the case:
Anthony Dehaney pled guilty nn October 21, 2008
Marcia Mestre pled guilty on September 3, 2008
Angela Manalaysay pled guilty on September 3, 2008
Beverly Ireland pled guilty October 30, 2008
Donna Patricia Grant pled guilty November 13, 2008
The 7th defendant, Andrea Dehaney, is still pending trial.
Rachel Dollar, the editor of Mortgage Fraud Blog is an attorney and Certified Mortgage Banker who handles litigation for lending institutions and secondary market investors.