Three South Florida Men Sentenced in $9 Million Mortgage Fraud Scheme

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announced the sentencings of defendants Oscar Bravo, 58 of Port St. Lucie; Jorge Bravo, 57 of Miami; and Sean Dickens, 44, of West Melbourne, Florida. At a sentencing hearing on February 27, 2012, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore sentenced each defendant to 37 months in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

According to the charges, a co-conspirator, charged in a separate indictment, located residential properties for sale. Defendants Oscar Bravo, Jorge Bravo, and Sean Dickens agreed to purchase the properties, with the goal of refurbishing and reselling them at a profit. The properties were 100 percent lender financed. The price of the properties was falsely inflated in their mortgage applications with the difference between the actual price and the inflated mortgage loan used to make payments on the mortgage loan and to pay for repairs to the properties.

In total, this mortgage scheme involved approximately $9 million in fraudulent mortgage loans.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kerry S. Baron.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.