A Buffalo man pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday for his role in a large mortgage fraud scheme. Richard M. Laho, 54, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud.
Laho admitted taking part in a real estate purchase in Naples, Fla., in 2007 designed to mislead the lender, according to prosecutors with the U.S. attorney's office in Minneapolis. In the deal, the buyer was given $5,000 and told all the mortgage payments would be taken care of and the property quickly resold. Instead, the property went into foreclosure. The lender lost between $490,000 and $690,000, prosecutors said.
A sentencing date hasn't been set.
A co-defendant in the case, Michael Prieskorn, 35, originally from Ellendale, pleaded guilty in March in connection to the swindle. Prieskorn operated companies called Blackstone Sales and Main Estates marketing "risk free" real estate investments in which people were paid cash in exchange for using their names and credit to buy homes. The scheme cost mortgage lenders at least $20 million, prosecutors said.
JENNIFER BJORHUS
