Broker heads to prison for $1.4M mortgage scam

SARASOTA — Area real estate professional Freddy Orjuela, 49, of Sarasota, was sentenced to two years in federal prison for mortgage fraud.

U.S. District Judge James Whittemore also ordered Orjuela to pay $960,020 in restitution, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's office in Tampa. A jury found Orjuela guilty Dec. 14 of making false statements in a mortgage loan application to a federally insured financial institution after a three-day trial. As part of the sentence, the court also entered a money judgment in the amount of $1,475,950, the proceeds of the fraud, the statement adds.

According to court documents, Orjuela submitted a mortgage loan application to Century Bank on which he knowingly and willfully overstated his income, understated his liabilities, and falsely denied he had declared bankruptcy within the past seven years.