Farmington Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Mortgage Fraud Scheme

A Unionville man was sentenced to five years in jail for his part in a mortgage fraud scheme in New Haven, NJ.

Andrew Constantinou, 58, was convicted in April. Between 2006 and 2008 he conspired to defraud mortgage lenders of millions of dollars of mortgage proceeds by inflating the contract price, said Matthew Reilly, spokesman for the U.S. District Attorney New Jersey Office.

A total of ten defendants have been charged and convicted for participation in the scheme including two loan officers, four attorneys and a real estate agent.

Constantinou was a former loan officer at GMAC Mortgage and Countrywide Home Loans.

The lower sale price, which ranged from about $30,000 to $145,000 less than the contract price was not disclosed to lenders. Constantinou and his conspirators obtained mortgage proceeds to cover down payments and deposits and borrows would receive thousands to tens of thousands of dollars in cash back.

Constantinou would receive commissions from the fraudulent loans as part of the scheme.

He and his conspirator would submit false HUD-1 forms to mortgage lenders.

Nearly all the properties purchased as part of the conspiracy went into default and were foreclosed, resulting in a loss of more than $7 million to lenders.

Constantinou will also have to pay $2.1 million in restitution and won’t be able to engage in mortgage lending business as a condition of supervised release.

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