Springfield Man Pleads Guilty to Mortgage Fraud

A Springfield man plead guilty Monday to using his position as a loan officer to commit fraud.

Javier Siveroni, a former SunTrust Mortgage employee, admitted guilt to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He'll be sentenced on November 4, and faces a maximum 20 years in prison. 

Siveroni worked in a Falls Church SunTrust branch from 1997 to 2011, according to a March indictment against him. In 2005, Siveroni and five other SunTrust employees worked together to create fraudulent loan applications.

By increasing the number of loan applications they processed, Siveroni and his co-conspirators hoped to receive more money from SunTrust, including commissions on each loan they handled, according to the indictment. Siveroni taught his colleagues how to prepare fake loan documents.

Using the fake documents, Siveroni and the other SunTrust employees would make unqualified buyers appear like responsible borrowers, and let "straw buyers" with reliable credit appear as fronts for the actual home purchasers.

In one case, in order to obtain a loan for a borrower, Siveroni lied that she owned her own business and was an American citizen. In another, he helped an illegal alien refinance his mortgage by providing him with a false Social Security number.

A house at 7712 Bristow Drive in Annandale shows how Siveroni's straw buyer scheme worked. The straw buyer, referred to in the indictment as "F.E.," did not intend to the live in the house. But Siveroni submitted false information to SunTrust claiming that the straw buyer would live in the house, and made over $216,000 a year. 

After the mortgage on the house was approved, Siveroni received a commission.

The conspiracy resulted in $6.5 million in fraudulent mortgages, with Siveroni directly responsible for $2.5 million, according to United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, which prosecuted Siveroni.

Five other SunTrust employees have already pleaded guilty in the conspiracy.