Former Attorney Sentenced for Mortgage Fraud

BOSTON – A disbarred Massachusetts attorney was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for defrauding mortgage companies in connection with multiple mortgages she obtained on a single residence. 

Margaret Connolly, 62, of Scituate, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to two years in prison, three years of supervised and ordered to pay $1,267,000 in restitution. In June 2016, Connolly pleaded guilty to three counts of bank fraud. 

From May 2005 to May 2008, Connolly fraudulently obtained multiple mortgage loans on her Scituate residence from different banks in amounts ranging from $465,000 to $648,000 by submitting false information regarding her employment history, income, assets, and debt.  Connolly also submitted false title reports, prepared by her own company, to fraudulently represent to the lenders that the property was free and clear of liens from pre-existing, unpaid mortgage loans. In fact, Connolly successively placed mortgage loans aggregating $2,025,000 on the same property without paying off the existing mortgages as she fraudulently represented to lenders. In 2007, Connolly was disbarred. 

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Steven Perez, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Region; and Christy Goldsmith Romero, Special Inspector General for the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, made the announcement today.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor A. Wild of Weinreb’s Economic Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.