A Wilton lawyer was sentenced on Friday to 30 months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release for his role in a Fairfield County mortgage fraud scheme, according to a statement released by Thomas Carson of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Joseph Kriz, a 50 year-old real estate attorney and licensed mortgage broker, began practicing with William A. Trudeau, Jr. to purchase, develop and sell properties by defrauding banks and mortgage lenders in 2005, according to court documents and statements made in court.
As part of the scheme, Trudeau, Kriz and others submitted false mortgage loan applications to financial institutions to obtain mortgages on various properties in Fairfield County in order to develop and sell the properties for profit, and to pay off debts owed to "hard money" lenders from whom they had previously obtained high interest loans. The suspects fraudulently obtained more than $4 million in mortgage loans to purchase six properties in Westport and Newtown as a result of the scheme. According to the release, mortgage lenders have lost more than $1.9 million.
In addition, Kriz stole approximately $3.5 million from his IOLTA account in order to service the various loans he and his co-conspirators had taken to secure the properties. Trudeau also defrauded private lenders of a total of more than $1 million. On August 4, 2008, Kriz pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of fraud in loan and credit applications, and one count of mail fraud.
Kriz cooperated with the investigation and testified at Trudeau’s trial and on October 9, 2012, a jury found Trudeau guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud, and one count of wire fraud. On February 12, Trudeau was sentenced to 188 months of imprisonment. The matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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