Florida Woman Sentenced in $24 Million Dollar Mortgage Fraud Case

       BUFFALO, N.Y.– U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Elsy Alvarez, 64, of Miramar, Florida, who was convicted of wire fraud affecting a financial institution, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution totaling $415,282.28 by U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross, who handled the case, stated that Alvarez was an employee of the Federal Guaranty Mortgage Company based in Florida, and was responsible for preparing loan packages and forwarding the documents to investor financial institutions. In legal transactions, financial institutions purchase loans originated by mortgage companies, allowing the mortgage company to receive immediate payment, and the financial institution the interest paid over time.

During the scheme, the defendant signed multiple loan documents using multiple names. Alvarez forwarded these documents to multiple investor financial institutions, one of which was M&T Bank. The defendant knew that by sending the loan documents to multiple financial institutions, a single property had multiple loans in the name of multiple persons, a fact which was not disclosed to the financial institutions. The proceeds of the fraudulent loans were subsequently wired into the account of a company associated with the Federal Guaranty Mortgage Company.

As a result of the defendant's actions, M&T Bank was one of nine financial institutions to suffer a loss. The parties estimated that the total fraud scheme amounted to approximately $24,000,000.

Frank Garcia, the owner of Federal Guaranty Mortgage Company, has also been convicted in this case and is awaiting sentencing.

This law enforcement action is part of President Barack Obama=s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.  President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.  The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.

The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.