Rockville Man Pleas Guilty to Mortgage Fraud, Must Repay Half-Million Dollars

A Rockville man who entered a plea of guilty Thursday to wire fraud will have to repay $515,000 he cost a lender in a mortgage scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore announced. 

Edgar Galdamez, 36, was charged with wire fraud in connection to a scheme carried out between September 2006 and May 2007.

Federal prosecutors say Galdamez filed fake loan applications on the behalf of homebuyers so they would get loans they weren’t qualified to receive. 

Galdamez faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte scheduled sentencing for Nov. 5 in Greenbelt.

According to his plea agreement, Galdamez and others approached people interested in buying investment properties. When he submitted their applications, he inflated the buyers’ income, left out their debts and claimed the properties would be the borrowers’ primary residence, in order to get a lower interest rate.

Galdamez and others profited from the fraudulent transactions by collecting origination fees, commissions and broker’s fees from each loan that closed.