Manalapan Woman Pleads Guilty To Mortgage Fraud Scheme

MANALAPAN, NJ – A Monmouth County resident pleaded guilty on Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Newark federal court. Manalapan resident Blanca A. Medina, 54, admitted her role in a bank fraud conspiracy. The former loan officer also admitted to participating in a scheme in which multiple mortgage loan applications contained false information regarding buyers’ assets and incomes.

Between 2015 and 2018 Medina illegally obtained mortgage loans from her former employer – a mortgage lending institution in Monmouth County only described as “Mortgage Lender A” in court documents – in order to finance the purchase of properties by “unqualified buyers” with insufficient assets or income, according to the US Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey’s Office.

A co-conspirator supplied Medina with fraudulent documents for potential borrowers. These documents included fraudulent bank statements, lease agreements and a gift check. Medina assisted buyers in completing the illegitimate loan applications, which received approval from the financial institution. Medina and her co-conspirator cost the lending institution hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial losses.

The conspiracy charge to which Medina admitted to carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The Manalapan resident is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 20, 2020.