Posted at 1:45 p.m., Thursday, November 10, 2005
Hawai'i resident sentenced to prison in fraud
Advertiser Staff
A Hawai'i resident has been sentenced to more than six years in prison and ordered to pay more than $1 million to victims of a mortgage fraud scheme, a news release from federal prosecutors in Dallas said.George Eric Cardona, formerly of Irving, Texas, had been charged in a 17-count indictment and pleaded guilty in January 2005 to one count of mail fraud and one count of money laundering, said a news release from U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas.
Cardona, who has lived for the past several years in Hawai'i, was arrested here on July 21, 2004 by agents of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation (Dallas) on charges outlined in a complaint filed that day in the Northern District of Texas, the release said. He has been in custody since that time.
According to the release, Cardona incorporated a "shell" corporation called First Cambridge Mortgage Corp. and shortly thereafter moved First Cambridge into space previously occupied by Union Mortgage Co.
Cardona also obtained the same telephone number that had been listed for Union Mortgage. Union Mortgage is a legitimate mortgage company in Dallas that is now doing business as Foremost Servicing Corp.
Cardona pretended that First Cambridge was the legal successor to Union Mortgage, and received telephone calls and faxes from title companies inquiring about payoff balances on mortgages held by Union Mortgage, the release said.
Cardona would send loan payoff information to others, cause the release of lien documents to be sent, and cause others to send loan repayment checks to him, the release said. Cardona admitted he caused the checks to be deposited into a First Cambridge bank account and kept the funds for his own use and to promote the scheme, it said.
