Nipomo woman stole $117,000 from elderly man in reverse mortgage scheme
March 31, 2017
A former Nipomo financial services advisor talked an elderly man into taking out a reverse mortgage on his home and then stole $117,000 from him, according to the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office. Araceli Cortes, 38, is slated to spend one year in jail.
In Aug. 2012, the man, 74, was client of Cortes’s firm, Cortes Multi-Services. Cortes structured a deal with the man so that $117,000 of the reverse mortgage funds went to the Nipomo woman on condition that she use them for business development.
Cortes used the funds for personal, non-business related expenditures and never made a payment on the loan. The financial crimes investigator for the district attorney’s office discovered the fraud in mid-2016.
Recently, Cortes pleaded no contest to one count of felony grand theft with an enhancement for stealing more than $100,000. A judge sentenced her to one year in county jail and four years of probation. Cortes likewise must pay restitution for all of the victim’s economic losses.
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