NYC woman pleads guilty in mortgage scheme

Valine Taylor, 28, of New York City, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

She faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $40,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Field said Taylor was indicted along with three other individuals, Tyshe Bankston, Bernard Lawson and Jocelyn Joseph, in July for conspiring to defraud Flaherty Funding, a mortgage company at 2595 Brighton Henrietta Town Line Road in Rochester.

Bankston, Lawson and Joseph, whose cases are still pending, were allegedly “straw buyers” who agreed to participate in a scheme to obtain large mortgage loans from Flaherty Funding by signing false documents with no intention of repaying the mortgages or occupying the properties.

In it is further alleged that in exchange for lending their names to the bogus transactions, the straw buyers received cash kickbacks or other valuable consideration.

Field said Taylor agreed to participate in the scheme by finding people willing to act as straw buyers and received $20,000 for locating one. Flaherty Funding provided three mortgage loans of $533,850, $533,850 and $646,300.

In June, another participant in the conspiracy, Merrick Henry, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud for his role in the scheme.