Lawyer and 5 others face charges in claimed mortgage-fraud scheme
A Rhode Island lawyer has been criminally charged, along with five other defendants, in a claimed mortgage-fraud scheme between 2007 and 2014 involving over a dozen properties in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Louis Marandola, 41, is accused of conspiring with others, including a real estate agent, loan workers and an investor, reports the Providence Journal. Their claimed scheme allegedly concealed from lenders the true nature of transactions in which participants sometimes pocketed money that was to go to the sellers, according to closing documents.
Participants also allegedly used the identities of other individuals and entities to conceal their connection to the transactions.
Marandola is charged in federal court in Providence with aggravated identity theft, bank fraud and wire fraud.
The indictment (PDF) in the case provides more details.
