Tracy Press
A mother and daughter were arraigned in federal court Monday on charges that they swindled $5 million from lenders by selling 30 homes to Cambodian immigrants in San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.
Helen Sotiriadis, 49, and daughter Irene Sotiriadis, 23, both real estate agents, were arrested Sunday night at their Manteca home after an informant told investigators the two planned to flee to Greece.
The women appeared in court the next day, where a federal judge ordered them released and placed under house arrest. He also ordered them to surrender their passports and post $750,000 bail, according to Lauren Horwood, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office started an investigation into the alleged real estate fraud scheme in January 2008.
Prosecutors say that between 2006 and 2007, the defendants exaggerated the income of dozens of Cambodian clients to get them approved for expensive, variable-rate loans and then placed them in homes they couldn’t afford.
The Sotiriadises are said to have promised buyers that after a one-time $4,000 payment, they would get to refinance the homes and pay only $1,500 a month, according to an affidavit filed in court this week. But after that first payment, prosecutors say, the real estate agents would cut off communication with the buyers. Most of those homes — many around Stockton and Modesto — have since lapsed into foreclosure.
If convicted of the charges, the Sotiriadis women could each spend 20 years in prison and pay a $250,000 fine.
They are due in court Oct. 9 in Sacramento for a preliminary hearing.
