Rachanee Srisavasdi and Larry Welborn report:
A real estate broker was sentenced to 69 years and six months in prison Monday for a $17.5 million real estate fraud scheme in which she used stolen identities to illegally purchase properties, then defaulted on the loans to pocket the loan money.
Kathy Chen, 49, was convicted in May of 136 felony counts, including one count of conspiracy, 47 counts of grand theft, 37 counts of forgery and 15 counts of identity theft.
[…]
During the trial, Deputy District William Overtoom argued that Chen used fraudulently obtained personal and credit information of unwitting borrowers without their knowledge or consent. Most of the victims were elderly, first-generation immigrants, and had little or no income, he said.
Read more in the Orange County Register.