US Department of Justice
LOS ANGELES – A federal grand jury has indicted a Sherman Oaks woman for her role in a $2 million mortgage fraud scheme in which she allegedly filed fraudulent loan applications that in some cases falsely claimed she and her husband earned nearly $50,000 per month.
Monica Elizabeth Frommer, 33, was indicted November 9 on charges of bank fraud, loan fraud, wire fraud and making unlawful monetary transactions. Frommer surrendered to federal authorities last Tuesday, and, at an arraignment Tuesday afternoon, Frommer pleaded not guilty to the 12 counts in the indictment. Frommer is currently scheduled to go on trial on January 11, but at a court hearing yesterday attorneys discussed delaying the trial until March.
According to the indictment, from mid-2004 through mid-2007, Frommer submitted at least six fraudulent mortgage loan applications to National City Bank and Washington Mutual Bank. On these loan applications, which were “stated income” applications, Frommer allegedly falsely inflated her income, claiming that she and her husband earned as much as $47,500 per month. The indictment also alleges that Frommer caused phony bank records to be submitted to a lender to verify assets that she claimed to possess. As a result of the fraudulent loan applications, the two victim banks funded loans totaling approximately $2 million.
The indictment alleges that Frommer used most of the mortgage loan proceeds to finance residential construction and to repay earlier mortgage loans. Frommer also used proceeds of the fraud for her own personal benefit and to finance vacations for her family.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in court.
If convicted of the dozen charges in the indictment, Frommer would face a statutory maximum sentence of 290 years in federal prison.
The investigation of Frommer was conducted by IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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