Betsy Borges, Mortgage Fraud Conspiracy, New Jersey 2017

Former Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office detective Betsy Borges, 38, of Mays Landing, New Jersey, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for her role in a mortgage fraud conspiracy that netted her over $200,000, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced today.

Borges pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud before U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle in Camden federal court. She was originally charged along with Iraida Fuentes, 35, of Pleasantville, New Jersey, in May 2017.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court, Borges purchased a property in Mays Landing in December 2002. Despite failing to make mortgage payments to Wachovia and its successor, Wells Fargo, Borges collected rental income from tenants living in the property and concealed that income from the banks. She also falsely represented to Wells Fargo that she could not make the mortgage payments for the property.

Borges subsequently arranged with Wells Fargo for Fuentes to purchase the property through a short sale. Not only did Borges and Fuentes conceal their familial relationship from Wells Fargo, they also concealed the fact that Borges and another conspirator provided Fuentes the funds to purchase the property.

On September 20, 2012, Fuentes purchased the property at a price well below its actual value. On November 22, 2016, B&B Properties – a company owned in part by Borges – purchased the property from Fuentes for $25,000. On February 3, 2017, Borges then individually purchased the property from B&B Properties for one dollar.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Simandle sentenced Borges to three years of supervised release and ordered her to pay restitution of $206,405. Fuentes pleaded guilty on November 6, 2017, and was sentenced on February 9, 2018, to two years of probation.

U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited agents of the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Bradley W. Cohen in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacqueline M. Carle of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden. Defense counsel is Louis M. Barbone Esq. of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

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