Court disbars lawyer involved in $92-million mortgage fraud scheme

Court disbars lawyer involved in $92-million mortgage fraud scheme

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A lawyer who provided false titles for properties in a $92 million mortgage fraud scheme was stripped of his law license last Tuesday after pleading guilty to federal wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

The Appellate Division, Second Department, disbarred Ted Doumazios, an attorney who ran Clearview Abstract, a title company based in Nassau County, N.Y.

According to state law, Doumazios automatically lost his license because of his felony conviction. The court then retroactively applied the disbarment to Dec. 15, 2010, when Doumazios filed his guilty plea.

Doumazios had prepared fraudulent title reports for Thomas Kontogiannis, a New York real-estate developer who sold phony mortgages to secondary buyers from DLJ Mortgage Capital Inc. and the now-defunct Washington Mutual. When payments stopped on the mortgages, the banks lost about $92 million.

The scam successfully operated from 2003 to 2007, and was called “one of the largest mortgage origination frauds on record” by U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sued Doumazios, Clearview Abstract and two other defendants last month for scheming with Kontogiannis and for receiving kickbacks from the real-estate developer for their work. Although Kontogiannis was sentenced to nine years in prison earlier this month, Doumazios has not been sentenced.

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