LOS ANGELES
A federal jury found a woman guilty of lying to banks that funded mortgages for three properties that later went into default resulting in $660,000 in losses to the lenders, according to officials.
MuhammadFelicia, 45, who at the time of the criminal conduct was a licensed real estate broker living in Long Beach, was convicted Friday afternoon of five counts of making false statements to federally-insured financial institutions, specifically U.S. Bank, Countrywide Bank, and First Horizon Home Loans, a subsidiary of First Tennessee Bank.
Muhammad is scheduled to be sentenced on June 6. She is facing up to 10 years in prison, officials said.
“This defendant lied to three different financial institutions, causing significant losses to all of them,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker.
According to the evidence at trial, in the summer of 2008, Muhammad applied for three loans so she could purchase condominium units in North Hollywood and Canoga Park. The total value of the loans was more than $1.1 million.
In each loan application and in two occupancy certifications, Muhammad falsely stated that each condo would be her primary residence, even though she never intended to live in any of the condos, according to officials.
Once the loans were funded and the purchased were completed, the titles to the properties were transferred to a trust administered by Muhammad’s former landlord, who had asked her to purchase the properties with her good credit, according to officials.
In exchange for purchasing the properties, Muhammad received $18,000.
After the properties were transferred to the trust, all three loans defaulted, all three condos went into foreclosure, and the three lenders lost a total of $662,000.