The Miami house purchased by relatives of Elian Gonzalez after the boy was snatched in a daring and infamous raid by federal agents is caught up in an alleged south Florida mortgage fraud ring.
Six people have been charged by Miami-Dade Police for charges ranging from unlawful compensation, mortgage fraud and fabricating physical evidence, according to a statement from the department.
The arrests culminated a probe that lasted two-and-a-half years, according to the statement prepared by Lupo Jimenez of the Miami-Dade Police Department.
At the heart of the investigation is Roberto Curbelo Jr., the former chairman of the West Kendall Community Council in Miami, who was being investigated because of “suspicious voting patterns” while he chaired the community council, police said.
Curbelo was co-owner of Our First Home Inc., a Florida real estate firm.
Curbelo has been charged, along with four others, in a bribery scam that involved using homes as payoffs to community council members in exchange for favorable votes on zoning matters, police said.
But police say Curbelo and a woman, mortgage broker Jacqueline Nunes, “were involved in a larger organized scheme to defraud multiple institutions by way of mortgage fraud.”
The scheme was uncovered during the bribery investigation. Police say it involved Curbelo and others allegedly finding people who did not qualify for loans and then, through falsified documents, selling them houses he and his accomplices owned.
“The scheme consisted of the sale of residential properties owned by Our First Home,” police said. “In order to recoup their initial investment and make a substantial profit, members of the organization would find a buyer for the properties who would be falsely and fraudulently qualified for a mortgage loan.
“The value of the properties and/or mortgage loan was also inflated,” police said.
One of the buyers was, unwittingly, Lazaro Gonzalez, the uncle of Elian Gonzalez.
According to police, Curbelo helped Lazaro Gonzalez buy a $120,000 home after the family left the bungalow where Elian was taken by federal authorities.
Curbelo had described himself in media reports as an “advisor” to the Gonzalez family during the Elian ordeal.
Lazaro Gonzalez was able to buy the home even though he had poor credit and, at the time of the purchase, no job.
That’s because, according to police, Curbelo used a straw buyer to obtain the loan for Gonzalez. Curbelo also did not reveal he was part owner of the home Gonzalez purchased.
Neither Gonzalez nor another of Elian’s uncles, Delfin Gonzalez — who also lives in the home — knew of the scam and have not been charged.
Police say Curbelo and his associates made about $50,000 on the sale of the home and about $800,000 overall in the scam.
Nunes, as a broker, made money through commissions on the sales, police said.
Attorneys for Nunes and Curbelo could not be reached.
Curbelo’s lawyer, Jose Quion, told the Miami Herald earlier this year that Curbelo was the seller of the property and “did not involve himself in any activity regarding mortgages which in any way could be construed as fraud.”
“We look forward to our day in court,” Quion told the paper.
That day, according to records in the office of the Miami-Dade County Clerk, is December 3. Both Curbelo and Nunes are scheduled for court hearings that day.
Curbelo is charged with five felony counts of racketeering, and mortgage fraud, court records show. He is free on a $200,000 bond.
Nunes also faces the same five felony counts. She is free on a $150,000 bond.
