A Florida real estate attorney was acquitted of charges that he had participated in a mortgage fraud scheme with eight others.
Michael Samuda, 38, an attorney from Weston, Fla. was acquitted on Feb. 16, of some charges filed against him in the scheme and a mistrial was declared on other charges. The judgment of acquittal was signed by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra.
The indictments, announced on April 27, 2011, alleged the defendants used straw buyers to submit false documentation substantially inflating the purchase price of the properties to various mortgage lenders. As part of the conspiracy, double HUD-1 Settlement Statements were prepared. One set with the real price was provided to the seller and another set with the inflated price was provided to the lender. The difference between the real price and the inflated price was either made to appear as if it were a debt owed to business entities controlled by the defendants and their co-conspirators, or was made to appear as profits to the seller. The fraudulent loan proceeds were instead laundered through multiple accounts to conceal the source and distribution of the money and were ultimately used for the benefit of the defendants and their co-conspirators.