Mortgage probe results in six indictments

Six people were indicted in Las Vegas on Thursday as part of the Justice Department's massive dragnet of mortgage fraud defendants around the country.

Two of the people who were indicted had already been charged in March, but new charges were filed against them in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme that involved more than 200 homes worth more than $100 million.

"Just trying to clean up the (mortgage) industry," Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Pugh said after the four new defendants made their initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Peggy Leen Thursday.

"(We've) got a lot of cases in the pipeline," he added.

In Las Vegas, the FBI arrested four loan officers and mortgage brokers on Wednesday who were included in indictments. They are Melissa Beecroft, 28; Amy Ortiz, 33; Christina Thompson, 46; and Jyothi "Joe" Panikkar, 52. Leen released the four defendants on personal recognizance bonds Thursday after hearing them plead not guilty to the charges.

The new indictment also adds to the charges against Eve Mazzarella, 31, and her husband, Steven Grimm, 45. They were charged Thursday with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and 13 counts of bank fraud.

The original charges against the couple only included the bank fraud counts.

The new defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

"The inclusion of new charges and additional defendants to this case demonstrates the magnitude of the mortgage fraud problem," U.S. Attorney Gregory Bower said in a statement.

The defendants are all accused of conspiring in a scheme that involved paying 432 "straw buyers" to let the defendants use their names to buy residential properties.

The indictment says the straw buyers were paid to make false statements in mortgage loan applications. After the mortgage loans were made, defendants Grimm and Mazzarella caused title and escrow companies to pay a portion of fees to the couple's companies, according to the indictment.

Then, the couple re-sold the same property to another straw buyer at an inflated price, according to the indictment.

Grimm and Mazarella are accused in transactions involving 227 properties with a total purchase price of $107 million. Of those, 143 homes are in default, causing banks a total $17 million in losses, according to prosecutors.

Beecroft was manager of Secured Mortgage Service; Thompson, manager of CRT Consulting; Panikkar, manager of Integrity Mortgage, and Amy Ortiz, president of Reliant Mortgage Corp. Attorneys for several of the defendants declined comment.

The case was investigated by the Southern Nevada Mortgage Fraud Task Force, which includes representatives of state, local and federal law enforcement agencies.

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at jedwards@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0420.