Mortgage fraud orchestrator gets 10 years in prison

David Fein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Syed Babar, also known as “Ali” and “Asad,” 29, of New London, Conn., was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Alvin Thompson in Hartford to 120 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for orchestrating a multimillion dollar mortgage fraud scheme.
           
According to court documents and statements made in court, between February 2007 and April 2010, Babar and others engaged in a scheme to obtain millions of dollars in residential real estate loans, including loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, through the use of sham sales contracts, false loan applications and fraudulent property appraisals. Babar was the de facto leader and organizer of the conspiracy.
           
Babar and others recruited and paid straw purchasers to nominally purchase homes. He and his co-conspirators then directed the straw purchasers to enter into sales contracts with the sellers of homes for prices higher than the actual prices that the sellers would receive. Members of the conspiracy submitted false documentation in connection with loan applications, including fraudulent appraisals of the properties being purchased in order to justify the inflated sales prices and the loan amounts being sought to fund the purchases. Babar and his co-conspirators also created a fictitious construction company in order to divert fraud proceeds to it and, in some cases, to falsely justify the artificially inflated sales price of houses based on renovations to the property that never occurred.  Babar and his co-conspirators then split the fraud proceeds.

Contrary to the representations made on the loan applications, the straw purchasers never occupied the houses as their primary residences. They defaulted on the loans they obtained and let the houses go into foreclosure.
           
Babar and his co-conspirators conducted this scheme on approximately 30 properties in Connecticut. As a result, various lenders suffered total losses of approximately $4.75 million.
           
Chief Judge Thompson ordered Babar to pay restitution in the amount of $4,749,024.76.
           
On Feb. 1, Babar pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, eight counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and four counts of making false statements to the government.
           
Babar has been detained since his arrest on May 12, 2010.
           
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — Office of Inspector General, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric Glover, Susan Wines and Liam Brennan.