Nassau Man Sentenced For Defrauding Homeowners

A Nassau County man was sentenced Tuesday for his role in a loan modification scheme that defrauded homeowners.

David Gotterup, of Oceanside, was sentenced at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn to 15 years in prison for leading a loan modification scheme that defrauded distressed homeowners. Gotterup pleaded guilty on June 16, 2016, to conspiring to commit wire, mail and bank fraud. In addition, as part of the sentence, the court ordered Gotterup to pay $2,500,050 in forfeiture.

From 2008 to 2012, Gotterup and his co-conspirators made a series of false promises to convince more than a thousand distressed homeowners seeking relief through government mortgage modification programs to pay thousands of dollars each in advance fees to numerous companies owned or controlled by Gotterup, including Express Modifications, Express Home Solutions, True Credit Empire, LLC, Green Group Today, Inc., The Green Law Group, Inc., and JG Group.

Among other things, Gotterup directed telemarketers and salespeople to lie to victims by telling them that they were pre-approved for loan modifications and that they were retaining a law firm and an attorney who would complete their mortgage relief applications and negotiate with the banks to modify the terms of their mortgages.

Gotterup and his co-conspirators did little or no work in connection with these fraudulently induced advanced fees. Gotterup was arrested in October 2015 and has been incarcerated since then.

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