BOSTON - An attorney formerly practicing in Massachusetts and now living in New York was sentenced today for his participation in a mortgage fraud scheme involving a 24-unit building in Dorchester.
Sean Robbins, 39, was sentenced by Chief District Judge Patti B. Saris to eight months in home confinement as a condition of three years of probation and ordered to pay $300,000 in restitution. In September 2012, Robbins pleaded guilty to 24 counts of misprision of felony.
In December 2006 and January 2007, Robbins was an associate attorney employed by, Marc Foley, a lawyer operating a law firm in Needham. At Foley’s direction, Robbins participated in a scheme to defraud lenders who funded mortgages for individuals to purchase condominium units in a building in Dorchester. HUD-1 Settlement Statements fraudulently represented to lenders that down payments and other expenses were collected from buyers at the closings, when in fact, none of the funds aggregating $449,000 were collected from buyers. Robbins, knowing that his employer was engaged in the mortgage fraud, conducted a number of the closings, concealed the crimes and failed to report them to authorities.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor A. Wild of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit and Veronica M. Lei of Ortiz’s Asset Forfeiture Unit.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
