California Man Gets 10-Plus Years in Federal Prison in $9 Million Mortgage Fraud Scam

Scott Dority of San Marino, Calif. has been sentenced to 121 months in federal prison for defrauding banks and other lenders by using straw borrowers and bogus documents to obtain millions of dollars in loans for houses and high-end vehicles that included Ferraris and Lamborghinis. Dority was sentenced by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner. The sentencing hearing was under seal, and the United States Attorney’s Office learned that the matter had been unsealed. Dority pleaded guilty on March 14, 2011 to wire fraud, conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, and two counts of tax evasion. When he pleaded guilty, he admitted that his fraudulent conduct caused at least $4 million in losses to financial institutions that issued mortgages and approximately $5 million in losses to institutions that issue loans for the sports cars and recreational vehicles. Dority also admitted in court that he failed to file tax returns for 2005 and 2006, even though he had hundreds of thousands of dollars in income in each of those years. According to a now-unsealed court document, Dority, along with others, recruited individuals with good credit to act as straw buyers to purchase residential homes or expensive vehicles. Dority created a package of materials—including fake bank statements, fake pay stubs, and bogus fake tax returns—to make it appear that these straw buyers had sufficient assets and income to pay back loans used to purchase the real estate and vehicles. These fake documents were then submitted to lenders, who relied upon them to issue more than $9 million in mortgage and vehicle loans. As part of the 121-month prison sentence, Dority received a mandatory two-year prison term for aggravated identity theft.