Foxborough Man Receives 8 Years For Role in Mortgage Fraud Scheme

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

A former Foxboro man was sentenced on Thursday for mortgage fraud in connection with the purchases of residential properties.

Christopher A. Chasse, 45, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole, Jr. to eight years in prison and three years of supervised release. In August 2014, Chasse pleaded guilty to 10 counts of wire fraud in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme.

From June to September 2006, Chasse fraudulently caused mortgage lenders to finance $5.25 million for his purchases of residential properties in the greater Boston area. Chasse submitted false loan applications containing bogus information about his employment, income, assets, closing costs and related matters. Chasse created false identification documents, phony income tax returns and other IRS forms, fictitious employment records and bogus bank account statements, all to support false loan applications to 11 lenders. Chasse also recruited other buyers for fraudulent mortgage loans. All of the properties went almost immediately into foreclosure for lack of payments, and the lenders suffered more than $4 million in losses.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Vincent B. Lisi, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston; and Bruce Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Victor A. Wild of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit and Carlos A. López of Ortiz’s Drug Task Force.

Today’s action is part of the ongoing efforts of President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Working Group. The interagency FFETF was created to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes. For more information about the FFETF, please visit: www.stopfraud.gov.