Boston - A Boston man was convicted yesterday on charges relating to a massive mortgage fraud he orchestrated.
Sirewl R. Cox, 37, was convicted by a jury sitting before United States District Judge Denise J. Casper on counts of wire fraud, bank fraud, and conducting an unlawful monetary transaction. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 6, 2013.
In 2006 and 2007, Cox identified multiple-family buildings for sale and recruited straw buyers to purchase the buildings. Cox and others then recruited straw buyers to purchase individual units in buildings that Cox controlled. The straw buyers’ financing for the purchases was obtained by submitting mortgage loan applications and other documents that falsely represented key information, such as the buyers’ income, employment, assets, and/or intention to reside in the condominiums. Deals were closed with HUD-1 settlement statements that falsely represented that straw buyers had made down payments and paid other funds in connection with the property transactions, and that falsely represented how the proceeds of the mortgage loans were disbursed.
Cox faces up to 30 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release and a $1 million fine on the bank fraud counts; up to 20 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine on the wire fraud counts; and up to 10 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine on the money laundering count for which he was convicted.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Steven Ricciardi, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service; William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston; Kevin Niland, Postal Inspector in Charge of U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Cortez Richardson, Special Agent In Charge of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of the Inspector the General, Boston Regional Office, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan M. DiSantis and Jeremy M. Sternberg of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.
