Matthew La Madrid was sentenced to serve a federal prison term in connection with his operation of the Plus Money Premium Return Funds and related real estate investment and mortgage fraud schemes.
He was sentenced to serve 120 months in prison and ordered to pay $23,484,171.33 in restitution, based on his convictions for conspiracy to commit mail fraud,
wire fraud, and bank fraud and conspiracy to launder money. He was also ordered to forfeit the proceeds he generated from these crimes, including $7 million, his interest in five parcels of real property, and the assets seized as part of related Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions.
According to documents, he was the mastermind of the principal investment scheme in which, between 2004 and 2008, he fraudulently solicited from investors more than $39 million that they promised to invest in covered calls stock option trading. However, a large portion of investor funds was used to make monthly payments to earlier investors. To mislead investors into believing that their PRF investments were profitable and intact, He sent investors monthly account statements that reported fictitious brokerage account values and trading returns.
The documents indicated that he funded his Ponzi and real estate fraud schemes by fraudulently securing mortgage loans, for duping borrowers into investing almost $5 million of their loan proceeds. At least 94 fraudulent loan applications were submitted to obtain more than $34 million in loans. The fraudulent loan applications listed false employers, incomes, false and inflated assets, and misrepresented that borrowers would occupy the residences when they actually were intended as the defendants’ investment property. Based on this, financial institutions and other lenders funded the loans and eventually lost more than $6.8 million once the schemes came to light.
In total, he cheated more than 300 victims out of more than $26 million. He spent more than $786,000 of his crime proceeds supporting his lavish life style, which included purchasing luxury vehicles, jewelry, and art; vacationing; and gambling.
If you are facing criminal charges of mortage fraud, you will need an experienced Los Angeles mortage fraud attorney who has experience dealing with this type of
federal crime.
The federal criminal lawyers at Cron, Israels & Stark have been defending clients who are facing federal criminal charges for decades. If you are eventually convicted of a federal crime like mortage fraud, you could be facing devastating consequences. Do not put your life in the hands of an attorney who has little experience in federal court.
Just call our office today to receive a free consultation with one of our Los Angeles federal crime criminal defense attorneys, who will advise you of your legal rights and explain how we can assist you.