Last of seven pleads guilty in $2.5M mortgage scam

GRAND RAPIDS (AP) -- Federal prosecutors in western Michigan say the last of seven people accused of participating in a $2.5 million mortgage scam has pleaded guilty. The government says 43-year-old Mario Giannandrea made the plea Monday before U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker in Grand Rapids. Sentencing on the fraud conviction is March 27, 2013. The seven people were indicted July 26, 2012, on accusations of engaging in a scheme to commit mortgage fraud. The Justice Department says the seven operated under the name of Lansing-based CDC Investments. The government says they inflated the value of pieces of real estate and then staged sales of the properties so that unsuspecting banks would supply mortgages. The government says the scheme resulted in about 35 mortgages and $2.5 million in losses. Published: Wed, Nov 28, 2012