West Suburban Real Estate Broker Sentenced to 16 Months in Federal Prison for Mortgage Fraud Scam

CHICAGO – July 16, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — A west suburban real estate broker was sentenced today to 16 months in federal prison for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme involving a pair of Chicago apartment buildings.

GEORGE DRAVILAS, 37, of Medinah, pleaded guilty in February to one count of bank fraud. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman ordered Dravilas to pay $463,110 in restitution. Judge Feinerman ordered Dravilas to begin serving his sentence no later than Sept. 21, 2015.

Dravilas was arrested in May 2014 after a long-term federal undercover investigation exposed a scheme to defraud Standard Bank through fraudulent mortgage loan transactions. Dravilas admitted in his plea agreement that he knowingly provided false documents as part of mortgage loan applications to finance two residential properties in the name of straw buyers who Dravilas had arranged would receive a share of the seller’s loan proceeds. After fraudulently helping to secure the financing, Dravilas schemed to sell both apartment buildings for the inflated sale price of $275,000 each, while agreeing to kick back $100,000 on each transaction to the undercover straw buyers, keeping a fee for himself in the process.

The properties were two-flat apartment buildings located in the 6300 block of South Parnell Avenue and the 6600 block of South Sangamon Street in Chicago…