BOSTON, MA - A Swansea, Massachusetts woman was sentenced today in federal court in connection with a wire fraud scheme that defrauded mortgage lenders in excess of $300,000.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz, Robert Bethel, Inspector in Charge of the United States Postal Service and Jon Rymer, Inspector General of the FDIC, announced today that BRITT CARLSON, age 29, of Swansea, was sentenced to one month of community confinement to be followed by a three-year period of supervised release.

At the prior plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that had the case proceeded to trial the Government’s evidence would have proven that CARLSON defrauded mortgage lenders in connection with the purchases of properties located at 168 Smith Street, New Bedford, MA; 57 Pine Swamp Rd., Cumberland, RI; and 375 Shove Street, Fall River, MA. CARLSON applied for all of these mortgages within a one-month window during 2005 by submitting false mortgage loan applications that fraudulently inflated her income and falsely represented that the property would be her primary residence.

At least one of the property sales involved a mortgage “rescue” scheme, whereby the homeowner who was on the brink of foreclosure purported to sell his home to CARLSON, who never intended to occupy the residence, despite making such representations on her mortgage applications. Instead, CARLSON collected “rent” from the original homeowner. Ultimately, all of the properties were foreclosed upon.

The case was investigated by investigators from the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Dowden and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Roller of Ortiz's Economic Crimes Unit.

 

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