Former State Representative Sentenced To Probation In Mortgage Fraud Scheme

Victor Cuevas, a city employee in Waterbury and an ex-state representative, escaped prison but was fined $1,000 Monday when he was sentenced in U.S. District Court for lying on an application for a federally backed mortgage loan. Cuevas previously pleaded guilty to bank fraud.

Cuevas, 52, claimed on the loan applications in 2013 that the was buying a house in Bristol with, in part, money he was receiving as gift from a relative. In fact, the money - $7,000 Cuevas represented he was getting from a cousin – was a loan from an employee who worked for him in the Waterbury recreation department.

Specifically, the U.S. Attorney’s office said Cuevas first told his banker that a nephew – who was actually someone who reported to him in city government - was giving him cash as a gift. Cuevas withdrew the mortgage application when the bank insisted on seeing his “nephew’s” bank account statements.

A few weeks later, prosecutors said Cuevas told the banker that another employee, this one identified as a cousin, had given him $7,000. Both Cuevas and the purported cousin signed a sworn statement that the money was, indeed, a “gift” and that no repayment of the money was expected. However, as soon as the mortgage closed, Cuevas re-paid the $7,000.

Read more: http://www.courant.com/politics/capitol-watch/hc-former-state-representative-sentenced-to-probation-in-mortgage-fraud-scheme-20161024-story.html