Mortgage Agent Pleads Guilty To Mortgage Fraud Conspiracy

Tampa, Florida - United States Attorney Robert E. O'Neill announces that Alexander Ende (35, Boynton Beach) yesterday pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and mail fraud, and wire fraud affecting a financial institution. Ende faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison for his involvement in this mortgage fraud conspiracy.

According to the plea agreement, during the time frame of the conspiracy, Ende was a licensed mortgage agent working as a loan officer and branch manager for Apex Mortgage. His day-to-day responsibilities at Apex Mortgage included meeting with and pre-qualifying clients for mortgage loans. In or about late September 2006, Ende and two other individuals decided to purchase three condominium units at The Arbors at Carrollwood (“The Arbors”), a 390-unit condominium complex located at 3939 Ehrlich Road, in Tampa, Florida. Ende, in his role as a mortgage agent, assisted one of his co-conspirators with putting together three loan applications to secure mortgage loans for the purchases. Included in the loan applications, were various material misrepresentations made by Ende to ensure that the co-conspirator qualified for the mortgage loans. These material representations included false employment information, that the borrower intended to occupy all three condos as a primary residence, and the omission of other real estate owned by the borrower. Ende also failed to disclose to the mortgage lenders that the developer of The Arbors was providing tens of thousands of dollars in cash-back incentives to entice the purchase of these condo units.

In reliance on the materially false representations and omissions in the loan applications and the HUD-1 Settlement Statements, the mortgage lenders collectively loaned Ende’s co-conspirator $764,550.00 to purchase the three condo units, all of which have now fallen into foreclosure.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Simon Gaugush.