U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg announced that Maria Del Carmen Montes, 46, Kissimmee, Fla., pleaded guilty to three counts of bank fraud. Montes was indicted, along with coconspirator Carlos Ferrer, on July 20, 2022.
According to the plea agreement, Montes, Ferrer, and others created and executed a mortgage fraud scheme targeting financial institutions. Montes assisted clients with purchasing homes and after signing the real estate contract, referred her buyers to a loan officer at a mortgage company. In order to qualify her clients for mortgages loans for which they were unqualified, Montes transferred the personally identifying and financial information of her clients to Ferrer and directed Ferrer to create fictitious paystubs and W-2s showing false earnings and length of employment for her clients, knowing that her clients never worked for the companies on the fictitious employment documents. After Ferrer created the documents, Montes submitted the fictitious paystubs and W-2s to the financial institutions who relied on them when making underwriting decisions.
This case was investigated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency – Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Poor.