Press Release
OPERATION WHOSE HOUSE MORTGAGE FRAUD DEFENDANT GUILTY IN MORTGAGE FRAUD SCHEME
April 16, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, William T. Sims, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service, Miami Field Office, Henry Gutierrez, Inspector in Charge, United States Postal Inspection Service, Donald B. Saxon, Commissioner, Florida Department of Financial Regulation, Amos Rojas, Special Agent in Charge, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Miami Regional Operations Center, and Ed Moreno, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service, announced that late Friday afternoon (4/13/07), defendant Ishmael Grant, 60, of Lauderhill, Florida, one of the lead defendants in a $10,000,000 scheme to defraud mortgage lenders, was found guilty by a federal jury in Fort Lauderdale.
Following a two week trial, in which 32 witnesses testified, the jury found defendant Grant guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft , three counts of mail fraud, and three counts of wire fraud. Grant was remanded by U.S. District Court Judge William Dimitrouleas pending sentencing, which is scheduled for June 28, 2007. At sentencing, defendant Grant faces a maximum statutory sentence of up to five years' in prison on the conspiracy count and up to twenty years' imprisonment on each of the mail and wire fraud counts.
Ishmael Grant is the eighth defendant to plead guilty or be convicted after trial in connection with "Operation Whose House." Presently, one defendant is awaiting trial and two defendants are fugitives in a foreign country. According to the evidence produced at trial, the defendants engaged in a scheme to enrich themselves by obtaining mortgages from lenders using straw purchasers and through the submission of false documentation, including false loan applications, false employment verification forms, false salary statements, and false bank account statements reflecting high account balances. The defendants also used and caused others to use false or stolen Florida's driver's licenses, identification cards, and social security numbers as their personal identification to facilitate the purchase of properties in the names of individuals whose identification documents had been previously stolen. The evidence showed that the defendants submitted more than 30 fraudulent loans to lenders around the country on properties located in Broward County.
Acosta commended the investigative efforts and trial support of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the State of Florida Office of Financial Regulation, the United States Secret Service and the United States Postal Inspection Service. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jeffrey Kay and Jennifer Keene of the Fort Lauderdale Office.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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