A Colonia man today admitted his role in a large-scale mortgage fraud scheme that caused millions of dollars in losses, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced Tuesday.
Delio Coutinho, 71, of Colonia, N.J., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark federal court to an information charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
From March 2008 through June 2012, Coutinho and his co-defendants conspired with each other and others to release liens on encumbered properties via fraudulently arranged short sale transactions. This allowed Coutinho and his co-defendants to profit from new fraudulent mortgage loans obtained on the properties from other mortgage lenders.
To complete the short sale transactions, Coutinho and his co-defendants submitted materially false closing and other documents to mortgage lenders. They submitted fraudulent mortgage loan applications to lenders to obtain new loans on properties in and around Elizabeth, N.J., including a property on Fulton Street.
Coutinho was a loan officer at a northern New Jersey mortgage brokerage company, and he submitted false documents in support of the schemes. Co-defendants included Jose Luis Salguero Bedoya, 37, of Elizabeth, a real estate investor who, along with his girlfriend, Yazmin Soto-Cruz, 33, of Elizabeth, provided much of the funds used by the defendants to perpetuate their fraudulent schemes.
Christopher Ju, 28, of Edison, N.J., negotiated the fraudulent short sale real estate transactions. In all, Coutinho and the others obtained approximately $2 million in illegal mortgage proceeds. The conspiracy count to which Coutinho pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
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