Mortgage Fraud Conviction = 3 Years in Jail for Stamford Resident

A Stamford resident has been sentenced to three years in jail for his involvement in a mortgage fraud scheme.

Asm Afsary, 42, of Stamford, was sentenced Thursday by Chief U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to 36 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiring to defraud financial institutions through an extensive mortgage fraud scheme that involved more than 20 properties in Fairfield County, according to an announcement from Connecticut’s U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly.

Afsary was a real estate agent and former mortgage broker who participated in a mortgage fraud conspiracy between 2005 and 2013 that involved the purchase of numerous single and multi-family properties, primarily in Stamford, Norwalk and Bridgeport, according to court documents and statements made in court.

During the scheme, Afsary and his co-conspirators provided materially false information to mortgage lenders, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. The fraudulent information included false verifications of mortgage applicants’ income, false verifications of down payments for real estate transactions and false HUD-1 Forms, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

As part of the scheme, Afsary recruited and directed the actions of several “straw buyers,” or individuals who fraudulently applied for and obtained mortgage loans but did not have an actual financial investment or stake in the mortgage loan transactions. Actually, Afsary was the intended owner of the property, managed the property and collected all of the rents from the property.

Through this scheme, lenders suffered losses of more than $7 million. Many of the properties involved in this mortgage fraud scheme ended up in foreclosure, or in short sale transactions.

Afsary was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $3,327,949.20.

On June 16, 2014, Afsary pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. He has been ordered to report to prison on July 31.

Three other individuals involved in this scheme also have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Housing Finance Agency – Office of Inspector General, which identified multiple Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans that went into foreclosure, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann M. Nevins and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney John McReynolds.

Parallel civil forfeiture cases are being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie G. Turbert.

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