Karl Oreste, who pled guilty one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud last July, was sentenced to 100 months in prison, plus an additional five years’ probation, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $8,215,197.28.  His co-defendant, former North Miami Mayor Lucie Tondreau, was found guilty on several charges on December 16, 2014 and is presently in custody awaiting sentencing on March 20, 2015.

According to a press release just issued by United States Attorney Wilfredo A. Ferrer, “Oreste, president of KMC Mortgage Corporation of Florida, a mortgage lending business located in North Miami Beach, along with co-defendants, Okechukwu Josiah Odunna, a/k/a “O.J. Odunna,” Marie Lucie Tondreau, a/k/a “Lucie Tondreau”, and Kelly Augustin, operated a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, between December 2005 and May 2008. Oreste and Tondreau, who at the time was a community activist, hosted several radio show programs in the South Florida area which catered to the South Florida Haitian community. During these programs they advertised the services offered by KMC Mortgage. Oreste and Tondreau recruited and paid some of the listeners who responded to those advertisements, as well as other individuals, to pose as borrowers to purchase properties identified by Oreste. Augustin, an employee of KMC Mortgage, also recruited straw borrowers.”

The release also stated, “Over the course of the conspiracy, the defendants fraudulently obtained loans on approximately 20 properties, for which the lenders have suffered losses in the amount of approximately $8.2 million.”

Read the entire press release by clicking here:  US ATTORNEY PRESS RELEASE

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”