A former Florida-based appraiser with a revoked license was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for operating a bank fraud scheme.
According to court documents, Armando Martinez took over the identity and license number of a legitimate licensed appraiser and then purportedly conducted onsite appraisals for dozens of properties in Florida. In reality, Martinez had fled to the Dominican Republican and paid others to go to the properties and take pictures for appraisals that he completed remotely and sent via computer to unsuspecting lenders.
Based on the false and fraudulent appraisals, the financial institutions were fraudulently induced to approve and fund mortgage loans and pay Martinez appraisal fees. As a result of Martinez’s appraisal fraud, more than $65 million in mortgages are impaired or defective. These mortgages were either guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration or purchased and guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Martinez previously pleaded guilty to the charges against him.
(Editor’s note: an earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the defendant; that error has been corrected.)
I think you guys should review this and ensure the names are correct. You reference a “Amos Mazzant III” (who appears to be a Texas based Judge???) and also a “Martinez”. Maybe get a human editor instead of the A.I. slop trough for your content?
We don’t use AI in writing our articles – this was human error (specifically, me) in conflating the names of the judge and the defendant. I appreciate bringing it to my attention.
This story is confusing as written. Is Martinez supposed to be Mazzant or are there 2 parties?
My apologies, but I conflated the name of the defendant (Armando Martinez) and the judge (Amos Mazzant). The error is corrected, and thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Got it, it makes better sense now. Thank you.
As an active broker for the past 53 year and former commercial appraiser, that’s the craziest story I’ve ever heard. can’t make stuff like that up.
Me too, Ed, California Broker here and former commercial AG Appraiser. I can’t wrap my head around how many weird schemes can be pulled off!
Might be a good idea to implement 2FA for real estate professionals!
Watch “Catch Me If You Can” movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, incredible true story!
Thank goodness we appraiser’s have to sit through 7 hours of bias training so things like this will be averted.
I thought one reason for the separation and the new requirement for hiring appraisers directly was to prevent this type of fraud? Wha happen, Lucy?
That whole deal only created another layer of money grubbers who put even more pressure on appraisers to come up with numbers that work for the client and forced many ethical appraisers out of the business. That’s why we have so many Armando Martinez’s getting a lot of work.