SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Three men who participated in a complex mortgage fraud scheme in Santa Maria are getting jail time and have to pay more than two million dollars in restitution to their victims.
A U.S. district judge handed down that ruling to 36 year old Brian Armet of Santa Margarita, 37 year old Rigoberto Hernandez of Santa Maria, and 42 year old Julio Tamayo.
Officials say they operated their scheme through Custom House Home Loans (CHH), a Santa Maria real estate mortgage company that Armet started in 2006.
All three of them were convicted of creating fraudulent loan applications that contained false information to fund loans.
The scheme defaulted 19 loans, causing multiple lenders to suffer $2.4 million in losses, including Homecoming Financial, Freddie Mac, Bank of America and Carrington Mortgage Company. The three men have been ordered to pay that money back.
