Press Release
LEADER OF $10 MILLION MORTGAGE FRAUD SCHEME PLEADS GUILTY
October 21, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Alex Hager, Acting Commissioner for the State of Florida, Office of Financial Regulation, and Henry Gutierrez, Postal Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, announced today that defendant Antony Dehaney, 56, of Lauderhill and Coral Springs, FL, pled guilty today before U.S. District Court Judge William P. Dimitrouleas to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, one count of mail fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341, and one count of bankruptcy fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 152(3).
Co-defendants Marcia Mestre and Angela Manalaysay pled guilty on September 3, 2008 and are scheduled to be sentenced on December 12, 2008. Defendant Dehaney is scheduled to be sentenced on December 30, 2008 at 9:15a.m. in Fort Lauderdale. At sentencing, Dehaney faces up to 5 years in prison on the mail and wire fraud conspiracy, up to 20 years in prison on the substantive mail fraud count, and up to 5 years in prison on the bankruptcy fraud count. The remaining defendants Howard Gaines, Beverly Ireland and Donna Patricia Grant are scheduled to go trial on November 17, 2008 at the Fort Lauderdale Federal Courthouse.
Dehaney admitted during his plea to engaging in a scheme to submit fraudulent mortgage applications, false verifications of employment, false verification of deposits, false earning statements and IRS-W-2 Forms to lenders in the name of straw buyers and defrauded purchasers. Dehaney also admitted to filing false bankruptcy petitions under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code in the name of the borrowers in order to delay foreclosure actions by the lenders. Dehaney was involved in more than 25 mortgage transactions, resulting in more than $10,000,000 in loans in Broward County.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State of Florida Office of Financial Regulation, and the United States Postal Inspection Service. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey Kay.
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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