A Kissimmee realtor who pleaded guilty to several counts of bank fraud will spend over two and a half years in federal prison.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Wendy W. Berger sentenced 48-year-old Maria Del Carmen Montes to 33 months’ imprisonment for bank fraud. She had entered a guilty plea in January of 2024.
Montes and her husband, 47-year-old Carlos Ferrer, were indicted by a grand jury on multiple counts of conspiracy, bank fraud, and identity theft in July of 2022.
According to court records, Montes and Ferrer conspired and executed a mortgage fraud scheme that targeted financial institutions.
Montes created fictitious and fraudulent paystubs and IRS Form W-2s in the names of companies for whom her clients had never worked to ensure that unqualified borrowers she was representing were approved for mortgage loans.
The documents falsely indicated that her clients had worked at companies formed and controlled in part by Ferrer.
According to her plea agreement, Montes admitted to using her clients’ personally identifying information on the forged documents without their knowledge or authorization.
Additionally, Montes and Ferrer recruited a co-conspirator working at a company to certify Verifications of Employment sent by the financial institutions and instructed the co-conspirator to lie to the institutions when they called to verify employment.
Based on Montes’ and Ferrer’s misrepresentations, the financial institutions approved and funded multiple mortgage loans.
In August of 2024, Ferrer was sentenced to four months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for his role in the bank fraud scheme.
This case was investigated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency – Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Poor.