The ringleader of a mortgage modification scheme has pled guilty in federal court to conspiring to defraud homeowners across the United States who were seeking mortgage loan modifications.
Aria Maleki, 33, of Santa Ana, Calif., according to court documents and statements made in court, and others jointly operated a series of California-based companies that falsely purported to provide home mortgage loan modifications and other consumer debt relief services to numerous homeowners in Connecticut and across the United States in exchange for upfront fees.
Maleki admitted to presiding over the entire structure of the scheme. As a result, more than 1,000 homeowners suffered losses totaling more than $3 million.
The defendants charged homeowners fees that typically ranged from approximately $2,500 to $4,300 for their services. To induce homeowners to pay, Maleki falsely represented that the homeowners already had been approved for mortgage-loan modifications on extremely favorable terms and that the modifications already had been negotiated with the homeowners’ lenders, among other misleading statements. They also claimed full refunds would be available.
Maleki pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. He also has agreed to pay restitution of approximately $3 million. Sentencing is scheduled for June 14, 2016.
He also has agreed to forfeit approximately $350,000 that investigators seized from various bank accounts, approximately $362,000 sized from a Bitcoin account, a $100,000 cashier’s check, and a 2013 Ferrari 458 Italia.
