Guilt is admitted in mortgage fraud
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A Newport Beach man pleaded guilty Monday to fraudulently obtaining mortgage loans resulting in more than $2.7 million in losses to the federal government and commercial lenders.
In a plea agreement, Lorenzo Espinoza, 39, admitted engaging in a scheme from April 1995 to May 2001 to defraud the Department of Housing and Urban Development and several commercial lenders by using “straw buyers” to arrange fraudulent mortgage loans. The loans went into default, leaving lenders and the Federal Housing Administration holding properties worth less than the amount funded in the mortgages.
At his sentencing March 12, Espinoza faces up to 26 years in prison.
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