Two Mortgage Brokers Charged With Defrauding Fannie Mae, Credit Suisse

Two former principals of now-defunct Brooklyn-based Olympia Mortgage Corporation were indicted on Thursday by a federal grand jury in Brooklyn in two separate mortgage fraud schemes. In one, Leib Pinter was charged with conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with the theft of $44 million of payoff proceeds for 257 refinanced home mortgage loans funded by Fannie Mae and serviced by Olympia; he allegedly misappropriated the funds that were to be used to pay off the original loans. In the second, Barry Goldstein was charged with conspiracy and bank fraud in connection with Olympia’s sale of a portfolio of 12 nonperforming mortgage loans to Credit Suisse using falsified loan histories; the amount of loss was not specified. Each count carries a possible maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Both Pinter and Goldstein pleaded not guilty at their arraignment before US Magistrate Judge Joan Azrack and were released on bond (Newsday, Reuters).