California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the arrests of 12 individuals on 133 felony counts for allegedly operating a sophisticated mortgage fraud and green loan scheme throughout southern California. The scheme resulted in a loss of approximately $15 million over the course of several years.
Eleven of the 12 defendants have been arraigned on charges of conspiracy, mortgage fraud, grand theft, identity theft, forgery, filing a false or forged document, and money laundering, as well as a special allegation for aggravated white-collar crime, after being indicted by a Los Angeles County grand jury on April 26, 2021. Eleven defendants were arrested on April 29, 2021, and they each pleaded not guilty during their arraignments. A twelfth suspect was arrested on May 3, 2021, and is awaiting arraignment.
The arrests were the result of a multi-year investigation led by the Los Angeles Police Department, with significant assistance from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Office of Inspector General. The Fraud and Special Prosecutions Unit of the California Department of Justice is prosecuting the case.
Between 2014 and 2020, the defendants allegedly ran a scheme that used stolen identities to obtain mortgage and green loans, which were wired to bank accounts they controlled. As a part of their scheme, they allegedly exploited the Ygrene Energy Fund and Renew Funding, companies that provide funding to licensed contractors for energy-efficient home improvements for homeowners. The defendants also allegedly used their false identities to obtain mortgage loans from conventional banks and hard money lenders for years, culminating in a loss of $15 million.