Mortgage fraudster faces five years in prison

The ring leader of a $9.2m mortgage fraud scheme has today been sentenced to five years imprisonment.

Principal defendant in an extensive $9.2 million dollar mortgage fraud scheme, Eli Devoy, was sentenced to five years in jail at the Auckland District Court today, with a minimum period of imprisonment of two years six months.

Devoy and a number of her relatives and associates were prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for a series of fraudulent property sales and purchases where five defendants were guilty of Crimes Act charges after a 10 week trial from February to June this year.

The group conducted a series of sales and purchases of 11 properties in the Auckland area between July 2007 and December 2010, deceiving lenders into approving mortgage applications containing false information and supporting documents.

The additional defendants who participated in Devoy’s scheme are Mehrdad Ghorbani who received a sentence of 2 years and 7 months imprisonment; Mehrzad Ghorbani, sentenced to 10 months home detention; and Mehran Ghorbani who received 7 months home detention.

A further defendant, Nasrin Kardani, has been remanded on bail until 9 September 2016 for sentencing.     

“We welcome the decisions of His Honour Judge Gibson today which demonstrates that there are significant penalties for those who do not provide truthful information to banks and lenders,” said SFO director, Julie Read said in a statement.