BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy Jr. announced today that Alagi Samba, 50, of Bronx, NY, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud affecting a financial institution, was sentenced to time served by Chief U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. The defendant was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $790,350.40 to M&T Bank and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Moellering, who handled the case, stated that between about June 2008 and February 2009, the defendant conspired with others to devise a scheme to commit mortgage fraud and obtain eight loans for unqualified borrowers for homes in the Bronx.
As part of the scheme, Samba served as a realtor on behalf of co-conspirator Daniel Badu in the purchase of a property in the Bronx. The defendant was aware that Badu was employed as a home health aide and did not have the income or assets to qualify for a mortgage loan in the amount of $574,543 to purchase the property. Samba obtained Badu’s personal identification information and business documents and provided them to another co-conspirator, a mortgage broker, knowing that the documents would be altered or falsely created to indicate that Badu was an ophthalmologist at his company Eagle Eyes. In addition, fraudulent paystubs and tax returns were submitted to support the loan application. Samba provided these false loan documents in order to secure a loan insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Based on that false application and supporting documentation, the loan was approved.
The defendant and his co-conspirators arranged for additional fraudulent loans to be approved, including another loan for Badu, and caused wire communications to be transmitted in interstate commerce for those loans. The defendant caused losses of approximately $547,000 affecting financial institutions in Buffalo and elsewhere.
Five co-defendants, including Daniel Badu, were previously convicted and sentenced.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the United States Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division, under the direction of Inspector-in-Charge Joseph W. Cronin, Boston Division; the Department of Housing and Urban Development, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Brad Geary; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Stephen Belongia.