A New York City man pleaded guilty in US District Court in Bangor, Maine, to submitting a false mortgage loan application and illegally maintaining a marijuana-involved premises.
According to court records, Ken Yiu, purchased a house in Saint Albans, Maine, using an $80,000 residential mortgage loan he obtained from a Maine bank. In his application, Yiu said he planned to use the property as his primary residence.
However, never intended to occupy the property as a residence. Instead, between September 2020 and January 2024 he used the property to illegally grow and distribute marijuana.
Yiu was interviewed by federal law enforcement agents in December 2024 and admitted selling marijuana he grew at his property to buyers in Massachusetts. A federal search warrant for the property was executed last January, and the search confirmed that the property had been used and maintained by Yiu to grow and distribute marijuana.
Yiu faces up to 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million for the mortgage fraud count and 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000 for the drug count. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigative report by the US Probation Office.
