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Marbleheaded Attorney Charged in Mortgage Fraud Scam
Leon Gelfgatt, an attorney from Marblehead, Massachusetts entered an innocent plea Friday, December 18, 2009 to larceny charges. Gelfgatt is alleged to have masterminded an elaborate mortgage fraud scheme.
According to a statement from the Massachusetts’ State Attorney General, Martha Coakley, Leon Gelfgatt used false documents to give the appearance that mortgages on several properties scheduled for impending sale had been transferred to a fake company created by Gelfgatt.
Gelfgatt, according to the Attorney General’s office, recorded false documents at different registry of deeds offices indicating his fake company was the new holder of the mortgages for the properties slated for sale.
“His goal,” Coakley said, “was to divert mortgage payoff money to be sent to the fake company rather than the rightful mortgage holders by obtaining the money from real estate closing attorneys when the properties were sold.”
State Police arrested Gelfgatt Thursday in Boston as he attempted to retrieve more than $1.3 million in funds connected with his scheme. He was arraigned Friday in Cambridge District Court in Medford for attempted larceny.
State troopers assigned to Coakley’s office and AG’s Financial Investigation Unit member James McFadden investigated Gelfgatt.
“This arrest is the result of an intensive and ongoing investigation utilizing state-of-the-art tools and techniques into fraudulent assignments recorded at several Registries of Deeds within Massachusetts,” the AG’s statement said.
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