Broker Convicted Of $17.5 million Fraud

A California real estate broker was convicted this week of pocketing $17.5 million by using stolen identities to get mortgage loans on 35 properties in Orange, San Bernardino and Kern counties in California and then defaulting on the loans.

The broker — 49-year-old Kathy Chen — was convicted May 17 in California Superior Court on 136 felony counts, including 37 counts of forgery and 15 counts of identity theft, according to an Orange County Register report. She faces a potential sentence of 111 years in prison.

Authorities are still looking for two of Chen’s co-defendants—her former boyfriend, Richard Gonzalez and his brother, Daniel Gonzalez—who authorities believe may be hiding in the Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, area.

Prosecutors said Chen and the Gonzalez brothers used fraudulently obtained personal and credit information of unwitting borrowers. Many of the supposed borrowers had little or no income.

Prosecutors said Chen and the Gonzalezes then fabricated loan applications to show high incomes for the buyers, forged signatures on documents, and then kept loan proceeds while defaulting on the loans.

Chen is scheduled to be sentenced July 9.