A grand jury in Los Angeles has indicted 14 people accused of perpetrating a more than $3 million mortgage fraud scheme in five Southern California counties and the Sacramento area, state Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Friday.
The unsealed grand jury indictment is against the owners of three mortgage brokerage firms and 11 affiliates allegedly involved in using fraudulent applications and financial documentation to obtain eight loans totaling $3.69 million. Unsuspecting borrowers then used fraudulent loans to buy properties in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Sacramento counties.
Thirteen of the 14 defendants appeared in LA County Superior Court, and 10 pleaded not guilty to charges that include mortgage fraud, receiving proceeds of mortgage fraud and grand theft, according to the AG’s office. The remaining defendants will be arraigned on an unspecified date…