College Park Resident Defrauds Beltsville Mortgage Lending Company, Forcing it to Close

A Beltsville mortgage lending company was forced to close after a College Park resident defrauded it in connection with six Baltimore properties, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.

Dema Daiga, 29, was sentenced Monday night to 65 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release. The sentence also included two counts of aggravated identity theft in connection with the scheme. 

According to testimony offered during the two week trial, Daiga worked as a mortgage loan broker and assisted with property appraisals. Daiga, along with Olu Campbell, 30, from Laurel, recruited two straw purchasers and used the names and
identifying information of four other individuals, without their knowledge, to apply for mortgages on six properties.

Since the straw purchasers lacked the lacked the income and assets to qualify as borrowers or make the monthly mortgage payments, Daiga and Campbell filled out
mortgage loan applications on behalf of the straw purchasers and other unwitting individuals with false employment histories, earnings and assets; provided telephone numbers that  the defendants controlled to any person calling to confirm the false employment and earnings; and generated fake monthly bank account statements to make it appear that the individuals had sufficient assets to make the down payments, the statement said.

Daiga or Campbell paid the down payments; caused appraisals to be performed that inflated the property values; and instructed the title companies to send a substantial part of the loan proceeds to the defendants, or to businesses that they controlled.

According to trial evidence, five of the six Baltimore properties purchased under this scheme swiftly went into default resulting in a loss to a Beltsville mortgage lending company of approximately $664,493.  The mortgage lending company was subsequently forced to lay off at least 20 employees and is no longer doing
business as a result of the losses it suffered from the scheme.