Broker Under Investigation for Mortgage Scam

A New York city mortgage broker is under the microscope by investigators for a scheme to defraud mortgage applications. Jacob Milton, a manager at Griffin Mortgage Co., pleaded not guilty to charges of grand larceny, identity theft, and falsifying business records.

Milton, who is being held without bail, faces up to 25 years in jail if convicted. His sister and secretary at Griffin Mortgage Nira Niru has also pleaded not guilty to similar crimes and is free on $500,000 bail. She faces up to seven years in prison if convicted. The charges against him and his sister are for a scheme involving four stolen identities used to buy houses or to make credit card purchases. Some of these victims found thousands of dollars in charges from credit cards acquired at Home Depot, Lord & Taylor, and Victoria’s Secret. According to the district attorney’s office this merchandise amounts to $15,700.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said today that “This may very well be the tip of the iceberg.” “We are examining hundreds of properties to see if they were fraudulently obtained.” What ties all of these victims together is that they all obtained mortgages from Milton previously. Hector Sandavol, a $30,000 a year pizza parlor worker was stunned to find out several months later when he received his credit report that he owned two homes and was holding $1.3 million in mortgages for which he never applied.

Lt. Richard Rudolph, who is heading the investigation, stated “People have been coming in like crazy.” “The phones have not stopped ringing.” Police seized three truckloads full of business records from Griffin Mortgage including ten computers from Milton’s office and his homes. Detectives are digging through these 2,000 property transactions that Milton conducted over the last couple of years looking for fraudulent transactions.

Head on over to Newsday to read more about the broker at the center of mortgage scam probe affecting NYC homeowners.