FBI Busts 8 in Mortgage Fraud Sweep
A coordinated investigation involving the FBI, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of the Inspector General, and the U.S. Secret Service culminated on July 31st in the arrest of eight Ventura County residents on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. 
The arrests are pursuant to the operations of Oxnard’s New Concepts Home Loans (NCHL) which involved submissions of bogus mortgage applications known to the suspects to contain false information regarding borrower qualifications, incomes, and assets. According to statements made to the media by U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr., “the defendants in these cases generated huge commissions and fees through the mortgage application process.”
Named as victims in the criminal indictment were a number of lenders, including Washington Mutual Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, Countrywide Bank, IndyMac Bank, and JP Morgan Chase Bank.
Birotte reported that those arrested “are alleged to have lured unsophisticated borrowers with promises of putting them into homes they clearly could not afford,” going on to indicate that the suspects “reaped huge profits” from their fraudulent activity.
Among those arrested, Jose “Joe” Bautista Garcia, 46, who is a licensed real estate broker, was identified as the owner of NCHL and the mastermind of its illegal operations, which included the door-to-door marketing of the fraudulent scheme, all with a single purpose: to collect fees from unqualified but eager potential buyers.
Along with Joe Garcia, additional arrestees include his wife, Lucy Ann Garcia, 46, Jose Fernando Murguia, 47, his sister Sesilia Garcia, 30, Lili Ayala Hernandez, 41, Lidubina Mendoza Perez, 41, Gregg Scott Quinn, 40, and Cesar Rodriguez Azamar, 36, each of whom face a potential prison sentence of 30 years.
Read More:
Ventura Couty Tribune- Seven Suspected of Mortgage Fraud in Ventura County
United States Department of Justice- Eight Linked to Fraudulent Mortgage Brokerage in Ventura County that Generated Millions in Sales Arrested in Federal Case
