2 NY Men Charged In Hartford Mortgage Fraud: Feds

HARTFORD, CT — Two New York men are being charged in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme for Hartford apartment buildings, according to Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

Jacob Deutsch, 56, of Brooklyn, NY, and Aron Deutsch, 60, of Monsey, NY, were charged recently on federal conspiracy, fraud and false statement offenses.

According to prosecutors, the two men worked for B H Property Management, a company that manages several multifamily housing properties in Hartford.

In April 2017, the Deutsches and others used an entity to purchase two Hartford properties, 16 Evergreen Avenue, a 24-unit housing property, and 53 Evergreen Avenue, a 12-unit housing property, for a total of approximately $1.8 million.

The Deutsches are accused of defrauding a mortgage origination and servicing company and Freddie Mac when applying for a mortgage loan to refinance the purchase of the two properties. The loan application documents contained numerous misrepresentations about 16 Evergreen Avenue’s occupancy rate and net operating income.

For instance, a summary submitted by Jacob Deutsch in June 2018 falsely represented that 16 Evergreen Avenue was 100 percent occupied when not a single tenant resided there at the time, according to prosecutors.

Based on these misrepresentations, in August 2018, CBRE underwrote a Freddie Mac Small Balance Loan for $2.178 million secured by the two properties, and then immediately sold that loan to Freddie Mac at closing.

Jacob and Aron Deutsch are each charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, and making false statements. After a court appearance, Jacob Deutsch was released on a $50,000 bond and Aron Deutsch was released on a $100,000 bond.