Florida man sentenced to prison for falsifying loan apps

Manuel Ruiz Quiroz of Miami, Fla. was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore to 120 months in prison on two counts of mail fraud in connection with his submission of loan applications and false supporting documents to obtain mortgages to refinance and purchase two homes in Port St. Lucie, Fla. According to the evidence presented at trial, Quiroz provided false information on the loan applications regarding his employment, income and personal assets in order to obtain more than $400,000 in mortgage loans. Quiroz procured and submitted false pay stubs, W-2 tax forms, and forged bank statements that inflated his personal account balance, thus qualifying him for the loans. In addition to the two transactions in February 2006, the evidence showed that Quiroz had engaged in the same type of fraud in connection with another home purchase in January 2005. Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Criminal Investigative Division, and Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Miami Field Division, announced the sentencing. Ferrer commended the IRS Criminal Investigation Division for its work on this case. Ferrer also commended the Port St. Lucie Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration for their assistance. In addition, Ferrer thanked Credit Suisse, JP Morgan Chase, Saxon Mortgage, Bank of America and TD Bank (formerly Riverside National Bank) for their cooperation during this investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Cooperstein. For more information, visit www.usdoj.gov.