So what do you get when you've admitted to committing hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars worth of mortgage fraud over the span of a decade? The two mortgage brokers at the epicenter of the Plantation Cops mortgage fraud trial, Matt Gulla and Rene Rodriguez Jr, have finally received their sentences, remember, they both admitted to among other things, destroying evidence, committing thousands of other frauds, not to mention that they literally imploded in court while testifying against the men on trial possibly causing the prosecution their case.
So what would these guys get considering the only two guys convicted in this entire case John Velez and Joseph Derosa received 42 months and 37 months respectively in federal prison for committing a fraction of the crimes that Gulla and Rodriguez committed. Take a look for yourselves...
Matt Gulla Sentence
Rene Rodriguez Jr. Sentence
Interesting huh? Matt Gulla gets 34 months and Rene Rodriguez gets 43 months in federal prison. Remember even after these guys both became cooperating government witnesses they were proven in court to lie about the extent of the other frauds they were involved in, were exposed to be liars while on the stand severely damaging the prosecution who they were supposed to be helping and then admitted to committing fraud in every single loan they processed over the last decade, by their own admission, fraud in over a billion dollars worth of mortgages. With all that in mind does it seem fair that they literally only get a slap on the wrist for their crimes?
Let's not forget that in addition to everything else that they did, after cooperating with the government and allegedly turning over all the evidence that they had in their possession pertaining to the case at hand almost two years after they had cut their respective deals and cooperated with the government, on the eve of the first trial they admitted to shredding documents and destroying their office servers which could have held tons of documents that would have been favorable to the defense. Even after making that kind of admission, at the end of the second trial the government even made a motion to the court asking that their sentences be reduced because of their "substantial assistance" to the prosecution. WTF?!
Remember, before there were any indictments, before there was even a hint of anyone getting arrested in the Plantation Cops mess, both Gulla and Rodriguez had retained top flight defense attorneys and had hammered out deals with the government in exchange for selling out the rest of the guys charged. Considering how light their sentences are and the fact that they won't pay any restitution despite admitting to over a billion dollars worth of fraud, this just goes to show that when you think the shit is going to hit the fan, make sure you win the race to the prosecutors office, whoever gets there first, will get the best deal as evidenced by Gulla and Rodriguez's sentences. That's all well and good if you can live with yourself and don't mind looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life...
Brooke, age 8 (John velez's daughter)
ReplyDeleteI have two brothers Christian and JJ. We have awesome parents, but sadly one of them as been wrongfully conficted. None of it was his fault. We are trying very hard to make him have less time in federal prison. So far he has 42 months there. Well that's how long he was sentenced to. Were hoping that we can try to get him either less rime or no time at all. We love him very much and hope we can spend just the right amount of time with him. We hope we can find someone who would really care about what is going on in his life. If I could ever have a chance to male a wish that wish would be for all of this to go away forever and never come up again. It is very wrong what they are doing to him. We have been going through this ever since my parents met. He has been there for every on our planet. He arrested the bad guys and saved the good guys. He has saved us and risked his life because he wanted too. He wasn't forced he wanted to be there for all the people he could save. We all love you!!!
My kids wrote these letters last night.... At least you got a sweeter deal huh Matt and rene?
Shannon Velez
Christian, age 14 ( John velez's son)
ReplyDeleteJohn velez is one of the most dedicated and good hearted person I know. For 18 years he protected from evil people and saved a numerous amount of lives. But it's very hard to understand that a man like this could ever be in the thought of ever going to jail. His own country turned against him with lies and selfishness just as the member of our family was born. H currently has 6 kids and 3 of them he sees every day. However, if he could he would love to see all of his children everyday. Aparently no matter no matter how much love,time,dedication,help, and support you give to your country. In the end if the higher ups will look bad in any way possible, they are aloud to manipulate the rules and at the same time apply them to who they're against ( good or bad) we ask nothing more than your trust and help. Try to imagine yourselves in his shoes and see what the possibility is of going against the top of the food chain. We appreciate all help and give many thanks and love to all supporters!!!
These are letters my kids wrote as a plea to the world.. It breaks my heart..
Of course, this could have been used as a learning moment instead - showing children that no matter what job you have (policeman, fireman, etc), if you break the law, you will be punished. No one is above the law and a lot of good deeds in the past can be wiped out by making a few bad ones. Take accountability for your actions and come out a better person on the other side.
ReplyDeleteI agree when a person makes a mistake they must pay the consequences; you are correct. The problem is John and others were wrongfully prosecuted. If you were at the trial and witnessed all the lies, omissions, and bias you wouldn't believe me if I told you. I never imagined that the courts could male up new rules, allow the prosecution favors that were not granted to the defense and let's face it... They were targeted because of their profession. John velez did NOT go into the mortgage industry to defraud people like Matt and Rene did! Matt and Rene did this fraud four years prior to even meeting the cops how ironic!!! What about all the hundreds and thousands of other people who have the same fraud and signed the same paper work! So instead of saying to just "deal" with it maybe you think about what you're saying.. Our relationship is amazing and we have a wonderful life; it is not easy to tear apart a family that is close. If my husband was truly guilty I would NEVER cover it up, it's not in my nature, it's not the way John or work. The sad part is... The government protects two crooks with past criminal records who defrauded people out of millions maybe billions, was a drug dealer, was in a gang involved with murder, and abuse. Then you have cops with no record who is highly decelerated.. Let's see? Compare the two. The mortgage brokers father is a retired 20 year FBI agent as well... Hmmm? Seems like who you know and how much money you got is what matters in this country. I'm just very sad my kids and I will not be able to see the man that makes us smile everyday, especially such an honorable, truthful, loyal, and good hearted man like John velez.... :(
ReplyDeleteas for the sentencing two words come to mind PURE BULLSHIT
ReplyDeletewhat else does it tell kids if your going to steal steal millions and then just work with the goverment and you can keep all your money and get less of a sentence then people who if are guilty did much less then you did.
ReplyDeleteHow is taking out 6 mortgages on 6 different properties in 6 months when you only make 50k a year not stealing. La Grasta only had ONE house, Depriest only had ONE house, and Radziwon had two houses, ONE in which he actually moved into. So in all respect, those cops indeed qualified, and there was no reason to commit fraud, the brokers still screwed them over. But 6 houses come on, plus another later on making it (7) SEVEN. That's not going go well with a jury.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, the brokers committed fraud well before 2005. But I bet more than anything 80% of that fraud was for average middle class people who were only looking to buy ONE house, and their intentions were to live in that house, make the payments and raise a family. The FBI report on mortgage fraud says this is the most common type of mortgage fraud, which is called occupation fraud. Yeah the borrower doesn't qualify in general, but their intentions are to live in that ONE house as long as possible and make payments. Unlike JOE G and others,I think they bought more than one, or two, or three houses...
Hey you don't get it!!!! John velez did not buy these houses alone!!! He was partnered up with another person( Joe G) who had a lot of money and was a real estate agent. He was making three times the amount John was. Remember these houses were paid in full with interests with the exception of the last house purchased. The last one was surrendered in bankruptcy because of a divorce. Are you gping to prosecute all of America because a property went into foreclosure? The other cops did it legitely? They were still prosecuted for a reason right? John did not do anything different than they did. So if you like the way a hairdresser cuts your hair you're most likely going to go back right? Well John bought properties and there was no reason to expect any wrong doing; he trusted the professionals! Then you say," well, the only did it for ONE house", this is the most rediculous statement! So if they lied only for one house they are ok? Come on... You are a pawn, a follower, and an embesol!!! John got targeted because he was the best cop on the force along with Joe G... Why not make an example out of two great cops for this will surely take the attention off of the banks and their wrong doing. There was no loss, no victims, and straight up NO CASE!!! He was falsely accused and the justice system is full of corruption. Get your facts straight!
ReplyDeleteIt's spelled imbecile not "embesol"
ReplyDeleteWow if you had good credit in 2005 you could buy as many houses as you wanted. people working at mcdonalds were buying 300k plus homes. so when you go to a mortgage broker who tells you credit is all you need and all of south florida is buying property and making money you assume its legit. half of florida is in forclosure because of banks and brokers giving loans that should not have been. those mcdonald workers arnt on trail because it doenst make headlines but their homes were all foreclosed on. Dont forget alot of people had muti investment properties. and didnt make over 50k a year. these people were targeted because it started from the pd where joe worked and the goverment liked the headlines. weather it was 1 house or 7 the charges were for lying on loans(ie like larasta and radzone with 1 home didnt matter) and if that is the case the goverment should have arrested everyone that matt and rene did loans for. because in this case the loans were paid in full and the only thing different from this and every other loan matt and rene did was they were all cops. didnt see matts dad arrested who bought 5 homes or rene's mom who did 4. this was all about headlines. the bottom line comes down to did they know they were signing forms with fake info that the brokers put on the forms.thats what a jury should have decided. but they didnt they looked at the bull shit the goverment feed them and fucked two innocent people. if the banks did it like they did in the 1990's before the greed kicked in brokers would never have been able to lie so easy and people wouldnt have been fucked. when do we get real justice and see the CEO's of banks on trail. answer never they all get to go out of business and have the tax payers pick up their mess and to make you the tax payer feel better they go after working class people that have jobs that make headlines in the news to show you who to blame. Wake Up! the banks are to blame and the goverment for bailing them out. the only justice in this case was that some people walked away not guilty.
ReplyDeleteLook at any rich realestate person in america that is famous from buying properties. they start with one take out equity, buy another, rent it, buy another. its been that way for years. the only difference is the market failed and the goverment wants to change the term strawbuyer from someone who buys homes, gets money out of them and never pays the bank back.
ReplyDeleteTo now = buys homes pays the mortgages and banks back in full with high interest, fixes the homes up to sell and sells them. this is the goverments NEW TYPE OF strawbuyer. It must be nice to get 12 dumb people on a jury to believe that whatever the goverment tells them must be the law. Here's a question for you i have looked at these whole sale lenders policies and packets almost everyone of them say you can buy up to 10 homes with our company. Look it up its in the print in BIG writing. says it all over their packets. but yet when you look at their charts to see what is needed to get home 8 or 9 with their company i see alot of things about credit score but nothing about income just (DTI)debit to income so if house 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 all cancel each other out in the DTI why does it matter if you make 10k a year 50k a year or 300k a year. It doesnt it never did. The bank only cares that they get their check every month bottom line. So if i was unsure about how many homes i can buy and i wanted to get into realestate in 2004-2006 who would I call. A broker (Rene & Matt). A Lawyer (Steve) a Wholesale bank(nope they send me back to the brokers cause they dont work directly with you).One of the 100 video's telling you to buy multiple properties. NO boys and girls according to our goverment you should not turn to professionals. I guess next time you should just call them directly see if your job would make their press release section and if not do whatever you want.
No one in this case had 6 mortgages on 6 properties in 6 months. No one even purchased 6 properties in 6 months where was that in the report. im sure the goverment would have used it in an opening statment to make a huge point just like you did.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't people take responsibility for their actions? If you buy multiple properties on a 50k salary, who cares what you're told? You know you can't afford them but you're GREEDY. The banks have plenty of blame but the buyers have just as much a role in this. If one bank gave out 5 loans on 5 properties to the same borrower, that's one thing but no one seems to realize that these loans are with multiple banks in a short period of time. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS AND STOP BLAMING EVERYONE ELSE!
ReplyDeleteYeah I would want my mom to buy a million dollar house under her name because she does have the income and credit to do so. Then she can QUIT CLAIM it to me because really I would have never qualified for it. Then I could drain the equity out of it and default on it. I hope my mom doesn't get indicted because she would lose her job.
ReplyDelete"STOP BLAMING EVERYONE ELSE" that was a great comment. but the problem is Velez & Derosa didnt put the lies on the loans. the brokers did.
ReplyDelete"TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS" so maybe the goverment should step up and say we allowed two people (rodruck & shedlock) with no investigation skills handel a muti million/billion dollar mortgage fraud case and instead of going after the big crooks went after cops to make headlines and become FDLE agents of the month. There is a reason FDLE now allows the FBI to handel these type of cases again and sent those agents back to paper pushers.there is a reason the FBI and IRS didnt take part in this case after looking at the bullshit.
"GREEDY" i didnt hear about anyone of these people making big money. think the most they made was 50 to 60k when they sold the homes. greedy is the banks that made over 100 billion screwing the america people. greedy is the mortgage brokers getting over 10k a loan sometimes up to 40k a loan just to sell it to a buyer and then doing that on 1000 plus loans over 10 years. You do the math. So again where and who where the true greedy people in this case.
No MOM's were arrested because then the true bullshit would come out and the public wouldn't sit back and read and say oh look they would say What The Fuck Is Wrong With Our Goverment. Mother's buy houses all the time for their kids. But wait one mom was arrested. Jackie and she showed that the goverment forced her to lie and admitt that she was Guilty. because they scared her and told her youll get 50 years for her part of buying (4 homes) when only making 40,0000 a year.She even admitted she didnt know they changed her job title and salry.(sounds like the same defense as everyone else) But yet she gets house arrest. NO jail time. why is that? she worked at the mortgage brokers office? did the judge feel bad for her? or did he think she was taken advatage of by the brokers and the goverment. See in a real case everyone gets arrested doesnt matter who they are. but in this case only people arrested were HEADLINE NEWS WORTHY PEOPLE. Bottom line goverment failed. After 2 Million in tax payers money we have 16 different familys lives ruined. Two innocent people go to jail. Two guilty people go to jail. Two investigators will never work a mortgage case again.One person will have to defend himself again, and the banks walk away clear.
ReplyDeleteThe headlines the goverment hoped for only lives on in this blog because after all that hype they couldnt convict all the cops and now the newspapers who thought they had a big story found out that it is only BS.
Now to see how the goverment fucks people over we come to a truth teller like this blog "THE STRAWBUYER" only problem is not enough people see this. maybe if they did the goverment would have to answer for their mistakes. but until then they wont, and only more peoples lives will be ruined.
Sad to see what our country has become. Our flag I had tattoo ed to my arm I was so proud of I now hide in shame. A government I once believed in I now have no faith in. God bless all those families involved and know that one day everyone must answer for their actions including the government.
ReplyDeleteExcuses, excuses, and more excuses. It never fails Crazy Eddie.
ReplyDeleteSad how many excuses people want to come up with to defend these fraudsters - Government's fault, broker's fault, bank's fault...yet these people knew they were buying more than they could afford and did it anyway. Doesn't matter if you get paid back in the end...only matters what happened at the time the loans occurred. Fraud from all involved...just realize that and stop trying to paint these two CONVICTED cops as innocent victims. If you actually think you could afford 4 $200K+ houses on a base salary when you already have a mortgage of your own, you're beyond help...
ReplyDeleteFraud from all then why did 5 other cops walk and 2 lawyers if it was fraud from all.
ReplyDeleteI remember holding my hand over my heart in school when I was a kid and looking at our flag and saying “and justice to all” when do the American tax payers get that justice? When do we get to see the greedy banks and the people working there on trail?
ReplyDeletei was actualy locked up with gulla and he was an overall good guy, yeah everybody makes mistakes and some were bigger than other but he learned his lesson and all of yall should get a life.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he learned his lesson, but why do these two guys get off without paying back any restitution?? They get out in a couple of years and continue to live the "good life" off of stolen money! What's wrong with this picture when there are children and families living in the streets - homeless! At least these two guys are getting a place to live, food to eat in their country club style jails at the tax payers expense! Lets see how they are living in a few years when they get out...vacations, nice house, etc.... and then see if you think they learned their lessons!
ReplyDelete