Home Boston Press Releases 2010 Loan Originator in Large-Scale Mortgage Fraud Ring Sentenced to 22 Months in Prison
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Loan Originator in Large-Scale Mortgage Fraud Ring Sentenced to 22 Months in Prison

U.S. Attorney’s Office October 19, 2010
  • District of Massachusetts (617) 748-3100

BOSTON, MA—A loan originator was sentenced yesterday to 22 months in prison for his role in a mortgage fraud ring that conducted 21 fraudulent property transactions in the Greater Boston area involving 10 mortgage lenders and more than $10.6 million in loan proceeds.

SAMUEL JEAN-LOUIS, 25, of Florida was sentenced by U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole, Jr. to 22 months imprisonment, to be followed by two years of supervised release. Jean-Louis pled guilty before Judge O’Toole to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and eleven counts of wire fraud on January 14, 2010.

At the plea hearing in January, the prosecutor told the court that had the case proceeded to trial, the government’s evidence would have proven that in or about 2005 and 2006, Jean-Louis participated with others in a conspiracy to defraud mortgage lenders in connection with certain property transactions in and around the Boston area. Jean-Louis acted as a mortgage broker and recruiter in the underlying scheme to defraud. Specifically, Jean-Louis prepared several mortgage loan applications containing false representations for certain property transactions and caused these applications to be submitted to mortgage lenders. As a result, the mortgage lenders wired funds, via interstate wire, to a bank account of a Boston attorney responsible for closing the loans. Jean-Louis also recruited “straw” buyers to participate in fraudulent property transactions during the course of the conspiracy.

This defendant is part of a large mortgage fraud case in which 10 other defendants were charged. The following five defendants were convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud following a seven-week trial: ERIC L. LEVINE of Brookline; J. DANIEL LINDLEY of Jamaica Plain; ERNST APPOLON of Braintree; DANIEL APPOLON of Dorchester, and LATOYA HALTIWANGER of California. LEVINE and LINDLEY were also convicted of money laundering following this trial.

Defendants LEVINE, LINDLEY, ERNST APPOLON, and HALTIWANGER face up to 20 years’ imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 on each count of wire fraud. For the conspiracy, they face up to five years’ imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. On the money laundering counts, LEVINE and LINDLEY face up to 10 years’ imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

Defendant DANIEL APPOLON was sentenced by Judge O’Toole to 42 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release on October 18, 2010.

Co-defendants ANDRE JUNIOR LAMERIQUE, WIDNER LAMARRE, JERMAINE BLAKE, and JEAN NORISCAT pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and several counts of wire fraud. LAMERIQUE, LAMARRE, BLAKE, and NORISCAT each face a maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $1 million fine on each count of wire fraud. For the conspiracy, they face up to five years’ imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release. NORISCAT also pled guilty to several counts of aggravated identity theft and faces a mandatory two years’ imprisonment for each of the identity theft counts in addition to any other sentence imposed.

The defendants have been scheduled for sentencing as follows: ERNST APPOLON and HALTIWANGER, October 20; BLAKE, October 21; LINDLEY, October 27; LAMARRE, October 28; NORISCAT, November 1; LAMERIQUE, November 9; and LEVINE, to be determined.

Co-defendant RALPH APPOLON is scheduled for trial in February 2011.

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 was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Victor A. Wild and Ryan M. DiSantis of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit and Mary Murrane of Ortiz’s Asset Forfeiture Unit.

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