A New York real estate attorney has pleaded guilty to bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud in connection with a scheme that defrauded banks out of more than $23 million in home mortgage loans.
Cheddi Goberdhan, who was an attorney in Queens, pleaded guilty on Monday to the charges in Manhattan federal court, according to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office.
Goberdhan faces a maximum sentence of 210 years in prison and will be required to pay restitution to the victims of his alleged offense and to forfeit the proceeds. He is scheduled for sentencing April 13.
Goberdhan, the ninth defendant convicted of participating in this particular mortgage fraud plan, "carried out an elaborate subterfuge designed to steal millions of dollars in home mortgage loans," Bharara said in a press release.
The scheme involved co-conspirators arranging home sales between so-called straw buyers, who posed as homebuyers, but had no intention of living in the mortgaged properties, according to Bharara's office. Loan officers then obtained mortgage loans for the deals by submitting fraudulent applications to banks and lenders.
The co-conspirators kept "some or most" of the mortgage proceeds for themselves, while the straw buyers ultimately defaulted on the mortgages, according to Bharara's office.
