Elk Grove and Los Angeles Men Charged with Student Loan Fraud

SACRAMENTO, CA—A federal grand jury returned a 12-count indictment on Thursday charging Mordechay Altit, 33, of Elk Grove, and his brother Shay Din Altit, 44, of Los Angeles, in a scheme to fraudulently obtain student loans, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

According to the indictment, Mordechay Altit obtained more than $200,000 in student loans from banks by means of fraudulent representations. On applications submitted by him, Mordechay Altit fraudulently represented the names of the students applying for the loans, their Social Security numbers, their incomes, and that they were attending or planned to attend schools such as California State University-Sacramento, Harvard Law School, and the Yale School of Medicine. After receiving some of the proceeds from two of the student loans, Mordechay Altit wrote checks for more than $19,000 to his brother Shay Din Altit.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Lee S. Bickley is prosecuting the case.

On October 29, 2012, Shay Din Altit was arrested in Los Angeles. He is scheduled for arraignment in Sacramento today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dale A. Drozd at 2:00 p.m. Mordechay Altit is in federal custody on unrelated charges. His arraignment for this charge has not be scheduled yet.

If convicted, the Mordechay Altit faces a maximum penalty of 22 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, Shay Din Altit faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

The charges are only allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.