DISCOVERY BAY, Calif. — Four people have been sentenced in a $20 million mortgage scheme that involved properties in Northern California.
Seventy-six-year-old Ronald Nelson and his wife, 53-year-old Edith Nelson, both of Discovery Bay, each received more than 30 months in federal prison on Thursday. The couple pleaded guilty to bank fraud and tax evasion earlier this year.
Two San Francisco Bay area real estate agents, 49-year-old Cristeta Lagarejos and 68-year-old Nelda Asuncion, also pleaded guilty in the case. Lagarejos received an 18-month sentence. Asuncion was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
Prosecutors say the defendants obtained loans for more than 20 properties — many of them senior care facilities — using fake buyers and false employment and earnings information between 2002 and 2007.
The Nelsons were barred from operating senior homes. But prosecutors say they used the straw buyers to skirt that restriction.