Mortgage Fraud Scheme Exposed: 21 Months in Prison, $382,750 in Restitution

Sacramento resident Iftikhar Ahmad, 40, was sentenced to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme involving the fraudulent submission of loan applications. Ahmad admitted to buying and selling properties using loan proceeds obtained through false information, and to secretly providing down payments to buyers and inflating the sales price of properties. His company, I and R Investment Properties LLC, was involved in multiple properties that were funded with loan proceeds obtained from Long Beach Mortgage Company.

Key Takeaways:

• Iftikhar Ahmad, a 40-year-old resident of Stockton, California, was sentenced to 21 months in prison for multiple counts of mail fraud related to a mortgage fraud scheme.
• Ahmad admitted to using his company, I and R Investment Properties LLC, to buy and sell properties that were funded with loan proceeds obtained through false information from Long Beach Mortgage Company.
• Ahmad secretly provided down payments to buyers and inflated the sales price of properties, while aiding buyers in submitting loan applications with false information about their income and employment.
• The case was the product of a joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation division.
• Assistant United States Attorney Laurel Lomis Rimon prosecuted the case.
• Other participants in the mortgage fraud scheme have already pleaded guilty and been sentenced, including John Ngo, a loan processor with Long Beach Mortgage Company, who was sentenced to nine months in prison.
• William Bridge, a loan broker operating The Loan Center in San Francisco, pleaded guilty to tax charges and was sentenced to 21 months in prison, and Paul Bridge, a loan broker at The Loan Center, pleaded guilty to paying kickbacks and was sentenced to three years of probation.

Statistics:

• $382,750: the amount of restitution ordered in association with Iftikhar Ahmad's sentence.
• 21 months: the prison sentence imposed on Iftikhar Ahmad for multiple counts of mail fraud.
• 3 years: the length of supervised release to which Iftikhar Ahmad was sentenced following his prison term.
• 9 months: the prison sentence of John Ngo, a loan processor with Long Beach Mortgage Company.
• 21 months: the prison sentence of William Bridge, a loan broker operating The Loan Center in San Francisco.
• 3 years: the length of probation to which Paul Bridge, a loan broker at The Loan Center, was sentenced.

Sources:

• United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner, "Sacramento Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation News Release"
• Office of the United States Attorney, Eastern District of California
• Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF)
• StopFraud.gov