Oceanside man faces 30 years for mortgage fraud

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When more than one thousand Long Island homeowners needed mortgage help, they looked to 36-year-old David Gotterup of Oceanside who took advantage of them, causing $3.5 million in losses. According to federal charges, Gotterup promised financially stressed homeowners that he would help them for a fee through his loan modification firm.

On June 16, Gotterup pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He faces 30 years in prison, plus restitution, criminal forfeiture and a fine.

The guilty plea took place before United States District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis, at the Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn.

Robert Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York announced it along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation from the New York Field Office; the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

According to a release from Caper’s office, from 2008 to 2012, Gotterup and his co-conspirators made a series of false promises to convince the homeowners who were seeking relief through government mortgage modification programs to pay thousands of dollars in fees each. Those “fees” were paid to numerous companies owned or controlled by Gotterup, some in West Hempstead, including Express Modifications, Express Home Solutions, True Credit Empire, LLC, Green Group Today, Inc., and The Green Law Group, Inc. The victims were told they were preapproved for loan modifications and that they were retaining a law firm and an attorney who would complete their mortgage relief applications and negotiate with the banks to modify the terms of their mortgages. However, Gotterup and his co-conspirators did little or no work in connection with these advanced fees.

A sentencing date was not available.

Gotterup was arrested in October 2015 in connection with another scheme in which he used Hurricane Sandy relief funds to pay for his own personal expenses including what the bureau described as “wedding-related expenses” in Cancun, Mexico, and remains incarcerated from that case.