West Palm Beach man arrested in connection with Collier County mortgage fraud

A West Palm Beach man has been arrested after a nearly three-year investigation connected him to an alleged mortgage fraud scheme.

The Florida Office of Financial Regulation has announced the arrest of Yasmani Rodriguez, who now faces charges of mortgage fraud, identity theft, communications fraud and filing false documents. The case was investigated by the OFR with assistance from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office economic crimes unit, which initiated the investigation in October 2018 after receiving a report of a suspected fraud to obtain property.

According to an OFR press release, Rodriguez obtained a $245,000 mortgage loan against a vacant lot in Collier County that he did not own and altered the corporate records of the property’s legitimate owner with the Florida Department of State. Using falsified documents, he represented himself as the property owner to obtain a mortgage loan from a private lender. The loan proceeds were deposited into an account controlled by Rodriguez that he opened using the falsified corporate documents. He withdrew most of the money in cash.

Rodriguez was arrested by the Miami-Dade Airport District police.