Two North County Loan Officers Admit Fraudulently Obtaining Mortgages and Siphoning Off Nearly $1 Million in Bogus Fees

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy announced that Simon Saeid Koli entered a guilty plea in federal court in San Diego today to count one of an indictment charging him and co-defendant Kian Ashkanizadeh with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme involving four expensive homes on Triton Street in Carlsbad, California. Co-defendant Ashkanizadeh previously entered a guilty plea to the same charge on Monday, July 9.

In connection with the entry of their guilty pleas, both defendants, who worked at a mortgage company called Southern California Finance, admitted that they recruited family members and friends to supply their names and signatures on mortgage loan applications as the purported buyers for these million-dollar homes. The defendants further agreed that they then fabricated the job titles, income, and assets of the purported buyers, so they could qualify for approximately $1 million in mortgage funding on each of the properties. The defendants also acknowledged that they diverted $200,000 in sham “consulting fees” and another $45,000 in fraudulent “construction fees” from each of the four transactions. The defendants took for themselves most of this extra $980,000 that they diverted from the escrow proceedings. The defendants also admitted disguising these so-called “fees” by first funneling the payments through bank accounts owned by friends and relatives and then causing the funds to be withdrawn or transferred for their own benefit.

Defendants Koli and Ashkanizadeh are scheduled to appear before United States District Judge Irma E. Gonzalez for sentencing on October 26, 2012, at 1:30 p.m.

Defendants, Criminal Case No. 12CR0403-IEG

Simon Saeid Koli, 41, San Diego, California
Kian Ashkanizadeh, 49, Laguna Niguel, California

Summary of Charges

Count one: Title 18, United States Code, Section 371-conspiracy maximum penalties: five years’ imprisonment; $250,000 fine or twice the gross pecuniary gain or twice the gross pecuniary loss (whichever is greatest); $100 special assessment; three years of supervised release.

Investigating Agency

Federal Bureau of Investigation