Press Release
MORTGAGE FRAUD FUGITIVE EXTRADITED TO FLORIDA
July 16, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Michael K. Fithen, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service, Miami Field Office, Henry Gutierrez, Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Donald B. Saxon, Commissioner, Florida Department of Financial Regulation, and Amos Rojas, Special Agent in Charge, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Miami Regional Operations Center, announced that defendant Delroy Patterson, 47, formerly of Lauderhill, Florida, was extradited on Monday, July 14, 2008 from Kingston, Jamaica, and will make his initial appearance in federal court in Fort Lauderdale at 10:00am yesterday. Patterson will have a Pre-Trial Detention hearing on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 10:00am in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida before Magistrate Judge Seltzer.
In November 2006, Delroy Patterson and ten (10) other co-defendants were charged in a forty-seven (47) count Indictment for their participation in a complex mortgage fraud scheme involving more than thirty (30) properties bought and sold in Broward County. The fraud resulted in the issuance of approximately $10,000,000 in mortgage loans. This investigation was named “Operation Whose House,” because, as a result of the defendants’ fraud, public property records did not accurately reflect the true ownership of the properties bought and sold by these defendants. To date, this operation has resulted in the conviction of nine individuals, eight of which pled guilty and one who was convicted after trial.
According to the Indictment, 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 allegedly used and caused others to use false or stolen Florida’s driver’s licenses, identification cards, and social security numbers as their personal identification at closings, in order to purchase property in the names of individuals whose identification documents had been previously stolen.
According to the Indictment, defendant Yvette Scott Patterson masterminded the scheme, and used her mortgage business, Khadmilroy Inc., located in Broward County, to execute it. The Indictment lists seventeen (17) properties, all in Broward County, purchased with loans obtained through fraudulent applications and supporting documentation in the names of straw purchasers or in the names of persons whose identification documents, including social security numbers and driver’s licenses, had been previously stolen. Over the period of the conspiracy, defendant Yvette Scott Patterson received approximately $300,000 in loan closing fees, mortgage broker fees, and yield premiums in connection with the fraudulently procured mortgages. Yvette Scott Patterson fled to Jamaica, where she was subsequently arrested. The government has filed an extradition request.
If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum term of imprisonment of up to five years on the conspiracy count (Count 1), up to twenty years’ imprisonment on the mail fraud count (Count 13), and from two imprisonment on the aggravated identity fraud counts (Counts 43- 44).
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts 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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