Sixth Defendant Sentenced to Prison in Large-Scale Mortgage Fraud Ring

BOSTON, MA—A Mattapan man convicted of conspiracy and wire fraud was sentenced today for the roles he played in a mortgage fraud ring that involved 21 fraudulent property transactions in the Greater Boston area defrauding 10 mortgage lenders of more than $ 10.6 million in loan proceeds.

JEAN NORISCAT, 36, formerly of Mattapan, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole, Jr. to a term of 87 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. The Court ordered this sentence to be served consecutive to a 41-month sentence Noriscat is currently serving for a federal conviction in 2008.

A total of 11 defendants were indicted in May of 2008. Five defendants were convicted of conspiracy and wire fraud counts by a federal jury following a seven-week trial in June 2010. Five defendants pled guilty before the trial, and one defendant is pending trial in February 2011. On March 11, 2010, Noriscat pled guilty to conspiracy, 17 counts of wire fraud and six counts of aggravated identity theft.

The Government’s evidence showed that between May 2005 and June 2006, the defendants participated in a conspiracy to obtain $10.6 million in mortgage loan proceeds by fraud. The scheme involved the use of inflated purchase prices and documents containing numerous false representations, including false information about the purchase price, borrower income, employment and intent to reside in the property. The difference between actual purchase prices negotiated with sellers and the inflated purchase prices submitted to lenders ranged as high as $255,000 on properties in South Boston, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Quincy, Hyde Park, and Cohasset, aggregating to more than $1.9 million. From this $1.9 million, the defendants pocketed more than $1.7 million in illegal proceeds. The mortgages on all of the properties were defaulted upon and nearly all went into foreclosure. Noriscat participated in the scheme by recruiting straw buyers for the fraudulent loans. He recruited convicted co-conspirator Latoya Haltiwanger and two other women for the scheme. In addition, Noriscat used stolen identities of four other persons living out of state and recruited local individuals to pose as straw buyers under the stolen identities, using bogus Florida identification documents.

Noriscat was the sixth defendant sentenced to date. On October 18, 2010, Judge O’Toole sentenced Daniel Appolon to 42 month in prison and ordered co-defendant Samuel Jean-Louis to serve a prison term of 22 months; on October 20, 2010, Ernst Appolon was sentenced to prison for 120 months and on October 21st Jermaine Blake was ordered to serve a prison term of 30 months; on October 28, 2010, the court sentenced Widner Lamarre to prison for 60 months; LaToya Haltiwanger was also sentenced later today and received a prison sentence of 30 months; and Eric Levine, J. Daniel Lindley and Andre Lamerique are pending sentencing.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; Robert Bethel, Inspector in Charge of the United States Postal Inspection Service; William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Division; Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino; and Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorneys Victor A. Wild and Ryan M. DiSantis of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit and Mary B. Murrane, Chief of Ortiz’s Asset Forfeiture Unit.