HARTFORD – A former West Hartford attorney was sentenced to over a year in prison, followed five years of supervised release, for his role in an extensive mortgage fraud scheme, according to the US Department of Justice.
Gabriel Serrano, 49, of West Hartford was a partner at Serrano and Serrano LLC until December 2013 when he was suspended from the bar after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and bank fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to court documents and statements made in court, from approximately June 2005 to at least November 2008, Serrano was involved in a mortgage fraud conspiracy with co-defendants using straw borrowers, false mortgage applications, false HUD-1 forms, fraudulent down payments, and false verification forms for the purchase of over 50 houses in Hartford, New Haven, and Middlesex counties.
Serrano served as the closing attorney on at least two dozen fraudulent transactions, according to the court documents.
