A Miami federal jury has found Mayelin Salas, 36, Miami Springs, and Lucy Segurola, 51, Miami, guilty in a $21 million mortgage fraud scheme.
The women were among 41 people charged in six separate mortgage fraud cases in July 2009.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Salas was an employee of State Mortgage Lending in Doral, which was owned and operated by Magile Cruz.
Cruz pleaded guilty and was sentenced in January 2009 to more than 10 years in prison.
Cruz’s other companies included Star Lending Mortgage, Sherley Title Services, Doral Title Services, and Professional Title Express, all in Miami-Dade County.
According to evidence presented at trial, Salas participated in a fraud scheme in which they provided false duplicate HUD-Settlement Statement Forms, which inflated the real purchase price of a property that Salas was buying. Salas received $5,000 from Cruz for her participation.
Segurola acted as a straw borrower on at least three loans totaling more than one million dollars and allowed her credit information to be used to apply for the loans, according to evidence presented at trial. Segurola was paid $15,000 for her participation.
The women face up to 20 years in prison along with fines and mandatory restitution. Sentencing has been scheduled for Oct. 22.

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office; Henry Gutierrez, Postal Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service; J. Thomas Cardwell, Commissioner, State of Florida’s Office of Financial Regulations; Amos Rojas, Jr., Special Agent in charge, Florida Department of Law Enforcement; and Alex Sink, Chief Financial Officer, State of Florida’s Office of Financial Services, announce fraud charges against a defendant Marie Decosta Quintana, 40, of North Miami, Florida, as a result of an investigation led by the Palm Beach County Mortgage Fraud Task Force. The defendant was arrested Tuesday, June 29, 2010, and made her initial appearance in West Palm Beach this morning.

The two-count indictment charges defendant Quintana with making false statements on loan applications to Bank of America and National City Bank, to purchase property in the Versailles Development at 10475 Trianon Place, Lake Worth, Florida, in 2007. According to the indictment, Quintana lied about her employment, income, assets and intention to live in the house to persuade the banks to provide money through two separate mortgages to buy the home. Quintana was recruited to be the straw purchaser of the home and received payment for allowing the use of her name, credit score and for signing documents containing false information. The fraud scheme resulted in more than $1.1 million in losses to two banks.

The charges announced today are the result of the investigative efforts of the multi-agency Palm Beach Mortgage Fraud Strike Force. Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, the State of Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, FDLE and Florida’s Office of Financial Services. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen Cohen.

An indictment is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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 www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

Federal officials have charged 13 individuals in an alleged elaborate $16.9 million mortgage fraud scheme targeting sales of luxury condominium units in downtown Miami and single-family homes in Coral Gables, according to an unsealed superseding indictment.

According to court documents, the fraud ring – which included a real estate broker and a Wells Fargo Bank loan officer – recruited “straw” buyers to make fraudulent loan applications to Wells Fargo, inflating their salary and deposit figures so they could qualify for loans in excess of $1 million. At closing, those charged then diverted millions by skimming the difference between the inflated purchase price and what actually was paid to the seller, officials said.

The straw buyers ultimately defaulted on the loans, sending the properties into foreclosure and costing Wells Fargo $9.7 million, federal officials said. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida.

Those charged include: Greta Medina, Ricardo Estrada, Dania Arguelles, Fernanda Abrea, Obed Hernandez, Martin Mere, Nestor Collantes, Alfonso Velasco, Adan Vasquez, Yohamel Caballero, Ana Aviles, Leismy Barcia and Christina Roberts. Real estate broker Margaret Roberts, who negotiated the sales, pleaded guilty earlier.