Central Valley man charged with multimillion dollar loan fraud

SACRAMENTO
September 20, 2012 9:00pm

Ryan William Costo, 37, of Granite Bay has been accused in a six-count federal grand jury indictmernt of mail, wire, and bank fraud, as well as making false statements to financial institutions, all in connection with various schemes to defraud lenders.

U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner says Mr. Costo falsely overstated his income and financial assets while applying for three separate loans: a $1.95 million loan from CitiMortgage Inc. for a Granite Bay residence; a $3 million loan from Washington Mutual Bank for another Granite Bay residence; and a $1.35 million loan from Bank of America for a 1945 North American P-51 D Mustang classic aircraft.

The indictment alleges that Mr. Costo not only made false statements about his income and various bank and stock account balances on the loan applications but also caused various false and fraudulent account statements and tax returns to be given to the lenders in order to procure the loans.

As a result of the fraud, lenders reported aggregate losses of over $3 million, Mr. Wagner says.

The prosecution is part of efforts underway by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which was created in November 2009 to to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud, Mr. Wagner says.

Since its formation, the Justice Department has filed more than 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,700 mortgage fraud defendants.