A New Jersey attorney has admitted to running a large-scale mortgage fraud scheme that involved properties in Jersey City, Clifton, Union, and elsewhere in New Jersey and caused losses of millions of dollars, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Christopher Goodson, 45, of Newark, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden in Newark federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Goodson and his co-defendant, Anthony Garvin, engaged in a short sale mortgage fraud conspiracy targeting various New Jersey properties with mortgages that were in default.
The conspirators arranged simultaneous fraudulent transactions on the same target property. In the first transaction, they convinced the financial institution holding the mortgage to accept the sale of the target property at a loss, usually to a buyer who was secretly a conspirator or an entity controlled by the conspiracy.
In the second transaction, the conspirators flipped the same target property from the first buyer to a second buyer, who typically obtained a mortgage from another financial institution using false loan applications, pay stubs, bank account statements and title reports provided by members of the conspiracy.
Goodson admitted that he, Garvin, and others rigged the short sale process at each step in order to maximize the difference in price between the two transactions and keep the victim financial institutions from detecting the fraud.
The conspiracy to commit bank fraud count is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 29, 2019.
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Key Facts
- State: New Jersey
- Category: White Collar Crime|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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