A former Suffolk County legislator was charged with 16 others today in what Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said was an $82 million mortgage scheme.
The charges were laid out in a 130-count indictment that affected lenders in sale the fake sale of 60 homes across Long Island, with 50 in the Town of Southampton alone.
George Guldi, a former 12-year Suffolk County Legislator was named in the scheme which used phony home buyers, or “straw buyers,” to file fales loan applications and “mortgage stacking” that Spota said helped created fake titles and hid existing loans, mortgages and liens already extended to the straw buyers. Lenders would not see the information and extend loans.
Guldi was charged with 112 crimes including 23 counts of first degree grand larceny, 11 counts of second degree grand larceny, 26 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument second degree, forgery, offering false instrument for filing first and second degree, scheme to defraud 1st degree, conspiracy, and money laundering.
Guldi, 56, of Westhampton Beach, pleaded not guilty at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead and posted $500,000 bond.
“These defendants, including attorneys, title closers and straw purchasers, filed mortgage applications that were filled with fraud – fake employer information, phantom bank balances forged notary signatures and falsified powers of attorney – persuading lenders, including JP Morgan Chase, Washington Mutual and Bank of America, into loaning tens of millions of dollars in mortgages that, as we stand here today, are all in default,” Spota said.
Codefendants Donald C. MacPherson and Carrie Coakley of Manhattan and attorney Dustin J. Dente of Roslyn also pleaded not guilty.
MacPherson, 65, was charged with 90 counts in the indictment including 23 counts of first degree grand larceny, 13 counts of second degree grand larceny, 21 counts of first degree offering a false instrument for filing and multiple counts of conspiracy, criminal possession of a forged instrument, scheme to defraud and insurance fraud. He remained in custody in lieu of $250,000 cash bail or $500,000 bond.
The indictment charges MacPherson’s wife, Carrie Coakley, 39, with first degree scheme to defraud and first degree grand larceny (count 34), the latter charge relating to a fraudulent mortgage in January of 2005 for a home at 98 Bridies Path in Southampton. Ms. Coakley’s 65-year old mother, Dortha F. Coakley of Riverhead is charged in the indictment (count 48) with second degree grand larceny for allegedly acting as a straw buyer in the purchase of a home in October 2008 at 40 Broome Street in West Babylon.
Dustin Dente, 37, is charged with four counts of first degree grand larceny, one count of second degree grand larceny, two counts of conspiracy, one count of money laundering and one charge of first degree scheme to defraud. Dente, title closer Melissa Lanzilotta-Smith, 33, of Babylon, and 35 year old Dix Hills attorney Brandon Lisi face first degree grand larceny charges for their roles in fraudulently obtaining two mortgages in 2008 for a restaurant property at 53-55 Main Street in Cold Spring Harbor. Dente, Lanzilotta-Smith, Lisi, and alleged straw buyer Nadeem Noor-Mohammed, 46, of Northport are charged in the indictment with second degree grand larceny (count 49) for the theft of more than $50,000 in obtaining a fraudulent mortgage from JP Morgan Chase in May of 2007 for a property in Huntington at 33 Stuyvesant Street.
Ethan E. Ellner, of 54 Sagamore Drive Plainview, an attorney and operator of Suburban Abstract, a title company in Stony Brook, allegedly defrauded lending institutions of millions of dollars by using forged documents, false employment and income information on applications, false powers of attorney, and other fraud. Ellner, 49, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment August 5 to 21 counts of first degree grand larceny, 11 counts of second degree grand larceny, as well as multiple charges of conspiracy, offering a false instrument for filing and money laundering.
Spota said the alleged frauds employed the use of straw purchasers, who received a fee of between five and ten thousand dollars, to victimize lenders by filing false loan applications that claimed the home buyers were employed by various corporations owned or controlled by the scheme’s participants.
“Some of the proceeds went into the principal’s pockets and some of the money would be used to service the mortgages on several properties, Spota explained. “It was not difficult to keep their mortgage Ponzi scheme afloat because of the exponential growth in the early part of this decade of the east end real estate market. The defendants were able to obtain new mortgages year after year for some of these properties,” Spota said.
Alleged straw buyers who pleaded not guilty to first degree scheme to defraud include Renee Garzon, 21, of East 6th Street, New York and 46 year old Lisa Resurreccion of 61 Sherman Street in Brooklyn, employees of Arena Studios, also known as “The Dungeon”, on Broome Street in Manhattan, John E. Sheehan, 50, of East 56th Street in Manhattan, employed as Ms. Coakley’s personal assistant at “The Dungeon”, and Danielle and Charles Ondrek of 84-31 Van Wyck Expressway, Briarwood, New York. Charles Ondrek, 32, is the owner of Blazing Bull Productions.