Jan
Vista Real Estate Agent Sentenced for $4.5m Mortgage Fraud
Miguel Romero was a busy man, simultaneously wearing the hats of a real estate agent, insurance dealer, income tax preparer and credit repair expert.
But many of his fellow Latino clients would say he drove them to ruin (affinity fraud) and a staggering number of his home sales have fallen into foreclosure. Of the 122 homes Miguel Romero has sold since 2004, at least 75 have fallen into foreclosure. Twenty-one of the additional 63 homes his network of real estate agents sold have also entered foreclosure status.
Other clients of Romero, who attended his weekly seminars on how to grow wealth by using the equity in their homes to invest in other properties, have lost not only those properties but their principle residences, which had equity and which they were able to afford before they met Romero.
Now the long arm of the law has finally caught up with Miguel Romero: he is being sentenced today to four years in prison for fraud, theft and conspiracy to commit a crime. With his unique business plan that consisted of overstating income on mortgage loan applications (mortgage fraud, loan fraud, real estate fraud) to buy homes they could truly not afford, there was no way his clients would not be victimized.
Read the full article in the North County Times.
