A Mission Viejo man received 121 months in federal prison for orchestrating a multimillion-dollar mortgage, loan, and pandemic-relief fraud scheme involving 17 convicted participants.
Houston, TX. — A 62-year-old California resident has been sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison for leading a sprawling, multimillion-dollar mortgage and loan fraud operation that targeted lenders, government programs, and people with poor credit histories, federal prosecutors announced.
Steven Tetsuya Morizono, also known as Jeff Lucian, of Mission Viejo, pleaded guilty in March to 34 counts including bank fraud, wire fraud, mortgage fraud, conspiracy to make false statements to the Federal Trade Commission, and obstruction of an official proceeding. U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison sentenced him to 121 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Restitution will be determined later.
According to court records, Morizono recruited his brother-in-law, Albert Lim (aka Ted Chen), 56, and longtime friend David Best, 62, to help operate “Jeff Funding,” a business used to carry out the nationwide scheme. Prosecutors said the group submitted falsified loan applications, created shell companies, deployed straw buyers, and offered fraudulent credit repair services tied to properties in Spring, Texas…