Former Loan Officer Sentenced in Mortgage Fraud Scheme

A former loan officer for GMAC Mortgage and Countrywide Home Loans has been sentenced to five years in prison for a mortgage fraud scheme that prosecutors say involved 40 New Haven properties and cost lenders $7 million in losses.

Fifty-eight-year-old Andrew Constantinou of Farmington was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in New Haven. A jury convicted him in April of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud.

Prosecutors say Constantinou and others conspired to defraud lenders out of millions of dollars in mortgage proceeds by inflating contract prices that sellers of multifamily properties agreed to accept. Authorities say lenders issued mortgages based on bogus loan documents and inflated sales prices submitted by Constantinou.

Constantinou also was ordered to pay $2.1 million in restitution.

Nine other defendants were convicted.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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