Nine South Floridians are facing mortgage fraud charges in an alleged scheme that cost lenders at least $1 million.
The accused ringleader, Johnson Cuffy, of Boca Raton, applied for mortgages from various banks, using his co-defendants as so-called straw buyers, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said Wednesday in a statement.
After Cuffy obtained the properties fraudulently, the co-defendants would pose as the property owners and request home equity lines of credit from the lenders, authorities said.
The co-defendants allegedly kept portions of the proceeds and laundered the remaining money through nonexistent companies to Cuffy. Authorities say most of the alleged fraud took place in Broward and Palm Beach counties. The alleged scheme targeted numerous financial institutions, including SunTrust Bank, Wachovia Bank, Bank of America and General Motors Acceptance Corp.
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