August 5, 2014

Branford Paralegal Sentenced to Federal Prison for Defrauding Mortgage Lenders Out of More Than $1.8 Million

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JACQUELINE POLVERARI, 47, of Branford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to 12 months and one day of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for arranging a series of fraudulent mortgage loan refinancing transactions.

According to court documents and statements made in court, POLVERARI, a paralegal, owned and operated various companies that specialized in preparing real estate closing documents and conducting real estate closings for attorneys. After arranging six closings for residential real estate refinancing transactions between January 2007 and May 2009, POLVERARI kept the loan proceeds instead of disbursing the proceeds to pay off the pre-existing mortgage loans on the properties. Two of these fraudulent refinancing transactions concerned loans on her residence, in the approximate amounts of $405,000 and $403,000. The other four closings concerned loans on other people’s residences, which varied in amounts from approximately $231,000 to $302,000. Lenders lost more than $1.8 million as a result of this scheme.

Judge Arterton ordered POLVERARI to pay restitution in the amount of $1,875,563.84.

On September 20, 2012, POLVERARI pleaded guilty to two counts of bank fraud.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Henry K. Kopel.