United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

FEDERAL JURY CONVICTS REAL ESTATE APPRAISER
FOR ROLE IN MORTGAGE FRAUD SCHEME

DALLAS - Following a week-long trial before U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn, a federal jury in Dallas has convicted Gandhi Ben Morka on all seven counts of an indictment charging him with various offenses in a mortgage fraud scheme, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper.

Specifically, the jury found Morka, 52, of Arlington, Texas, guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, four counts of wire fraud and two counts of mail fraud. Morka faces a maximum statutory sentence of 125 years in prison and a $1.75 million fine.

Gandi Ben Morka was arrested in May 2007 by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on charges in a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Texas in April 2007. That indictment superseded an indictment returned in May 2005 that charged seven individuals, Sean Cung-Kim Nguyen, Dai Quoc Nguyen, Xuyen Thi-Kim Nguyen, Tam Nguyen, Myna Tran, Hong Thanh Duong and Cuc Kim Tran, with various offenses related to their role in a mortgage fraud scheme to defraud Countrywide Home Loans, d/b/a America’s Wholesale Lender (Countrywide). That scheme resulted in millions of dollars of losses to Countrywide based on fraudulent mortgage loan applications and appraisals for residential home purchases in the Dallas area. Most of the defendants have been convicted and sentenced to prison terms of up to 78 months and ordered to pay up to millions of dollars in restitution.

The government presented evidence at trial that Morka conspired with the above-named co-defendants to defraud Countrywide by locating single family residences in and around the Dallas area that were for sale and recruiting straw purchasers and borrowers to purchase the targeted residences. Then Morka would prepare appraisals on the properties, inflating the value to an amount far greater than the fair market value. The co-conspirators would prepare and submit false and fraudulent loan applications in the names of the straw purchasers in order to secure a mortgage loan for the targeted single family residences in an amount substantially greater than the fair market value of the purchased property and obtain substantially inflated loans from Countrywide, based on those false and fraudulent misrepresentations. The co-conspirators paid the original owners of the properties and distributed the remaining fraudulently obtained loan proceeds among themselves.

 Overall, the co-conspirators worked together to steal money from Countrywide on a number of real estate transactions. While more than 18 different houses were targeted in the scheme, Morka’s trial focused on two homes: 7605 Constitution, Plano, Texas and 6727 Silvercrest Drive in Arlington, Texas.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah Saldaña and Lynn Hastings.

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