A Newport Beach man pleaded guilty Monday to fraudulently obtaining mortgage loans resulting in more than $2.7 million in losses to the federal government and commercial lenders.
In a plea agreement, Lorenzo Espinoza, 39, admitted engaging in a scheme from April 1995 to May 2001 to defraud the Department of Housing and Urban Development and several commercial lenders by using "straw buyers" to arrange fraudulent mortgage loans. The loans went into default, leaving lenders and the Federal Housing Administration holding properties worth less than the amount funded in the mortgages.
