Ana Monteiro Faces 10 to 20 Years in Prison for 2 Million Dollar Mortgage Scam Wednesday, 16 February 2011

ALBANY, NY – Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares announced on March 19 that Ana Paula Monteiro of Providence, RI, was found guilty after a jury trial of 17 counts including: three counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, one count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, two counts of Filing a False and Fraudulent Personal Income Tax Return, two counts of Failure to File a Personal Income Tax Return, an unclassified misdemeanor and 9 counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing. Monteiro faces 10 to 20 years in prison when sentenced in May 2010.

These charges came as a result of crimes that were committed after her partner Aaron Dare pled guilty to federal charges.

“I promised the people of Albany I would aggressively pursue the dozens of complaints against Aaron Dare and Ana Monteiro that have caused irreparable damage to our citizens and neighborhoods. Hundreds of people in the region have been negatively impacted by the actions of these two defendants. The boarded up buildings in our communities serve as reminders of the damage Ms. Monteiro and her cohorts perpetrated,” commented DA Soares. “This complex investigation would not have been possible without the cooperation and diligent investigative work done by the New York State Police, the Albany Police Department, the Banking Department and the Tax Department and I look forward to continuing these partnerships to prevent people like this defendant who was convicted last night from taking advantage of the citizens of Albany County in the future.”

In July 2007, the New York State Police Financial Crimes Unit (FCU) was contacted by a company that buys and sells existing mortgages with information that several loans in the Albany area were suspicious. The FCU, assisted by the NYSP Albany Special Investigations Unit (SIU), researched the loans and determined that they were connected to Aaron Dare and Ana Monteiro.

In April 2009, Aaron Dare pled guilty to two counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree. Under the terms of the plea bargain, Dare was sentenced to a maximum of 8 to 24 years in prison and must cooperate fully in clearing the titles of the properties involved in the real estate scams. His prison term will be served consecutively with the 60 month sentence Dare is currently serving in federal prison and the 1 to 3 year sentence for the fraud associated with 215 Second Avenue in the City of Albany in April, 2008.

Between January 2005 and August of 2007, Dare and Monteiro transacted loans of 25 properties in Albany County totaling $2.3 million.

The group then stole $1.6 million of the $2.3 million by not paying off existing mortgages.

While acting as mortgage brokers, property managers, title and settlement companies, the new mortgages were obtained using phantom down payments, justified by inflated appraisals. The proceeds of these new inflated mortgages did not go to pay off the existing mortgages.

The proceeds of these new loans went into accounts that were controlled by Dare, Monteiro and other business associates. These properties were multi-family rentals where Dare and Monteiro would act as the property managers collecting the rents for local and out-of-area investors.

BY HEATHER ORTH
Director of Communications
Office of the Albany County District Attorney