A former mortgage broker pleaded guilty for her role in an extensive real estate scheme in the District and Maryland.
Rasheeda M. Canty, 35, faces up to 30 years in prison, but will likely receive between three or four years in imprisonment under the federal sentencing guidelines, prosecutors said. At a federal court in Washington on Friday, Canty admitted that the plot cost her victims more than $1 million and she promised to pay the government more than $340,000 she received in commissions on the fraudulent transactions.
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Joseph Persichini Jr., head of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, said the conviction “sends a clear message to bad actors” that law enforcement is focusing on the crime problem of mortgage fraud.
“There is no safe harbor for criminals in this business,” Persichini said in a statement.
Canty, who had an office in Lanham, preyed on distressed homeowners whose properties were facing foreclosure, offering to purchase their properties and promising them they could buy them back within a year.
Canty and other conspirators falsified documents for the sellers and sought out unsophisticated people to act as purchasers and paid them up to $10,000 fee for the use of their personal information. Sometimes the conspirators stole the identifications to make the purchases, prosecutors said.
As a result of these transactions, several of the properties have gone into foreclosure, prosecutors said.
Canty submitted fraudulent information to and obtained loans from at least 11 lenders who paid her a hefty commission for the transactions. The conspirators also skimmed equity from the properties, often after inflating the appraisals, and charging excessive brokerage fees.
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