David Joe Cano, Mortgage Fraud, Texas 2013

A mortgage loan officer has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison for his role in a $1.8 million fraud scheme in Texas.

Dallas-based U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña announced that David Joe Cano, 41, was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $1,795,125 in restitution for his nearly two-year role in a scheme to launder the proceeds of mortgage fraud.

Cano, a resident of Arlington, Texas, pleaded guilty in November 2012 to one count of conspiracy to engage in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.

According to court documents, Cano was a mortgage loan officer at 1st Capital Investment located in Richardson, Texas. From January 2006 to November 2007, Cano, along with other coconspirators, operated a scheme to obtain fraudulent loans from Bank of America and IndyMac Bank, as well as GreenPoint Mortgage Funding, Inc. and WMC Mortgage Corporation, both located in California, and Everett Financial Inc. dba Supreme Lending and America Homekey, Inc., both in Dallas.

Cano and his conspirators then laundered the money from those loans back to themselves using shell corporations such as Comex International Korea Corporation, Eagle's Marc Enterprises, Inc. and Sunko Construction.

To defraud the banks and mortgage lenders, Cano and his conspirators selected newly constructed or distressed properties whose value could be inflated without raising lenders' suspicions. Cano and company then recruited individuals with good credit scores to act as loan applicants for the purchase of the properties and paid them to apply for loans using applications that falsely inflated the applicant's income and assets.

Today's sentence is a strong reminder of how serious our courts consider mortgage fraud, said Madie M. Branch, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Dallas Field office, IRS Criminal Investigation. IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to 'following the money trail' to ensure that those who engage in mortgage fraud are brought to justice.

Cano and his conspirators focused on seven properties located at: St. George Place in DeSoto, Texas; Golden Pond Drive in Cedar Hill, Texas; Summerfield Court in Fairview, Texas; Tangleglen Drive in Dallas; Roma Court in Allen, Texas; Avondale Drive in Murphy, Texas; and Stephenville Drive in Frisco, Texas.

This case is part of efforts underway by President Obama's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/mortgage-loan-officer-sentenced-more-seven-years-federal-prison-role-18-million-fraud