Woodbridge man guilty of mortgage fraud

WOODBRIDGE -- A federal grand jury has convicted a Woodbridge man of running a mortgage fraud scheme that resulted in the foreclosure of at least three homes, including one in Woodbridge and one in Haymarket.

The jury convicted Godwin Asifo, 55, on Thursday of two counts of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud.

According to an affidavit on file at U.S. District Court in Alexandria, between May and June of 2006, Asifo arranged the sales of a house in the 3900 block of Tecumseh Court in Woodbridge, one in the 5711 block of Caribbean Drive in Haymarket and one in the 42400 block of Rockrose Square in Ashburn to "straw buyers."

Asifo told the buyers, who did not plan to live in the houses, that they did not have to put their own money down to purchase the houses and that the mortgage payments would be made for them, according to the affidavit.

Asifo recruited the buyers by promising that he would sell the houses within six months and share the profits with them, the documents state.

He also told the buyers that purchasing the houses would help them get loans to buy their own houses later.

Asifo also helped the buyers get loans to purchase the houses by inflating the income listed on their loan applications, falsifying their employment records and giving them thousands of dollars to inflate their bank accounts, prosecutors said.

The three houses, which were purchased for between $335,000 and $765,000, ultimately did not sell for profit and the three buyers all eventually defaulted on their loans, causing the houses to go into foreclosure and resulting in "substantial losses" to the lenders, prosecutors said.

Asifo faces up to 60 years in prison for the fraud charges when he is sentenced Nov. 20.

Amanda Stewart is a staff writer for the News & Messenger in Manassas.