Mortgage fraudsters sentenced to prison, home detention

Wednesday 17 August 2016 04:33 PM

Mortgage fraudsters sentenced to prison, home detention for scamming seven banks

By Sophie Boot

Aug. 17 (BusinessDesk) - Four people found guilty of mortgage fraud have been sentenced for scamming seven banks using forged documents and aliases in a $9.2 million scheme involving 11 Auckland properties between July 2007 and December 2010.

The scheme, or "series of scams", began to unravel in February 2010 when a Bank of New Zealand investigator advised police about some transactions using false documents, while Westpac Banking Corp had begun to investigate another property deal at about the same time. Kiwibank complained to the Serious Fraud Office in November 2011.

In the Auckland District Court, 47-year-old ringleader Eli Devoy was today sentenced to five years imprisonment with a minimum period of imprisonment of two years six months, the SFO said in a statement. In June, she was found guilty on 20 charges having pleaded guilty to four charges prior to trial. The one-time mortgage broker now goes by the name Ellie Stone, and has also used the name Eli Ghorbani and Elaheh Ghorbani Sarsangi.

Of her brothers, Mehrdad Ghorbani was sentenced to two years and seven months imprisonment, having been found guilty of six charges. Mehrzad Ghorbani, also known as Mehdi Ghorbani, was sentenced to 10 months home detention after he was found guilty of four charges. A third brother, Mehran Ghorbani had pleaded guilty to three charges prior to trial and got seven months home detention.

Nasrin Kardani, a family friend, was found guilty of three charges in June and has been remanded on bail until Sept. 9 for sentencing.

SFO director Julie Read said it was an important case for genuine buyers as the cost of borrowing is increased by fraud.

"Every lender should be monitoring this risk and people applying for mortgages should be aware that there are significant penalties for those who do not provide truthful information," Read said.

(BusinessDesk)

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