Lockport Man Sentenced For Mortgage Fraud

CONTACT:    Barbara Burns     
PHONE:      (716) 843-5817
FAX:         (716) 551-3051
 

BUFFALO, N.Y.--U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that James P. Vasiliou, Jr., 49, of Lockport, NY, who was convicted of bank (mortgage) fraud, was sentenced to time service and nine months of home detention and electronic monitoring by U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara. The defendant was also ordered to pay restitution to Bank of America in the amount of $194,285 and to JP Morgan Chase in the amount of $276,645.08, for total restitution of $470,930.08.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross, who handled the case, stated that the defendant submitted a false application to JP Morgan Chase Bank to refinance a property located at 40 Ashley Street in Lockport. Vasiliou overstated his monthly income from a business he owned on the loan application. The defendant also filed 15 additional false mortgage loan applications with other financial institutions.

This law enforcement action is part of President Barack Obama=s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.  President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.  The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.

The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Secret Service under the direction of Special Agent-In-Charge C. Todd Laster, Housing and Urban Development - Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent-In-Charge Cortez Richardson, New York Division, and the Western District of New York Mortgage Fraud Task Force.