An Oceanside man was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in federal prison for leading a loan modification scheme that conned distressed homeowners out of a combined $3.5 million over a five-year span.
David Gotterup pleaded guilty in June at Brooklyn federal court to conspiring to commit wire, mail and bank fraud.
Prosecutors said the 37-year-old directed his telemarketers and salespeople to make false promises to convince more than 1,000 homeowners seeking relief through government mortgage modification programs to pay thousands of dollars each in fees to his companies from 2008 to ‘12.
He and his co-conspirators told victims that they were “preapproved” for loan modifications, that they were retaining a “law firm” and an “attorney” that would complete their mortgage relief applications and negotiate with the banks to modify the terms of their loans, but Gotterup and his companies did little or no work for the money they were paid, authorities said.
The companies involved included Express Modifications, Express Home Solutions, True Credit Empire, LLC, Green Group Today, Inc., The Green Law Group, Inc. and JG Group, according to investigators.
Gotterup was arrested in 2015 and has been jailed ever since. Judge Nicholas Garaufis ordered Gotterup to forfeit $2,500,050. The amount of restitution he will be ordered to pay to his victims will be decided at a later date.
