Attorney Sentenced to Prison for Role in Massive Mortgage Fraud Scam

BOSTON – October 6, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — An attorney was sentenced on Oct. 1, 2015, to prison in connection with a multi-year, multi-property mortgage fraud scheme in Dorchester and Roxbury.

Michael R. Anderson, 46, of Framingham, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to two years in prison, two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $11,048,212 in restitution and forfeit $7,413,712. In January 2011, Anderson pleaded guilty to sixteen counts of wire fraud, nine counts of bank fraud, and two counts of engaging in unlawful monetary transactions.

From September 2006 through April 2008, Anderson assisted Michael David Scott, a developer, with perpetrating a fraud scheme in connection with the purported sale of more than 27 condominium units in Boston. Scott, who was charged separately, pleaded guilty in May 2015.

Scott and his associates bought multi-family dwellings promising to convert them into condominiums, and then resold the individual units to various straw buyers. The developer, Anderson, and others arranged for the straw buyers to obtain mortgage financing by falsifying key information, including the buyers’ intent to reside in the properties, assets, down payments, and funds paid at closing. Anderson and others arranged to prepare loan closing documents, and Anderson then closed the mortgage loans associated with these purchases. As the closing attorney, Anderson also was responsible for disbursing the fraudulently obtained mortgage loan proceeds.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, made the announcement. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan M. DiSantis of Ortiz’s Public Corruption Unit and Victor A. Wild of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.