A crooked Long Island broker pleaded guilty yesterday to arranging more than 100 fraudulent mortgages — and is facing eight to 10 years in prison.
Gerard Canino’s scam, which operated between 2004 and 2009, involved using straw buyers — armed with bogus documents “proving’’ they had jobs and incomes — to get mortgages allowing them to purchase homes in the city and suburbs.
Many of the mortgages went into default, leaving financial institutions, including banks, holding the bag — but not before producing big commissions for Canino’s firm, First Class Equities.
“I agreed with others to commit wire and bank fraud,” Canino admitted in Manhattan federal court.
Canino and 13 co-defendants also used phony documentation to fraudulently obtain mortgages for legitimate homeowners who couldn’t afford them and soon were facing foreclosure.