Marlboro Lawyer Sentenced After $2.6M Home Loan Fraud

A Marlboro man was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison and a $50,000 fine after he was found guilty of obtaining $2.6 million in fraudulent home loans.

Mark J.Bellotti, 56, pleaded guilty in February of filing false mortgage loan applications, according to a State Attorney General news release.

Previously in this case, Jonathan P. Domash, 42, of Marlboro and owner of Diversified Assets, LLC, was sentenced to three years of probation for his involvement in the home loan scam.

Leonardo A. Hernandez, 41, of Hillsborough, also pleaded guilty and as charged with theft by deception as a disorderly persons offense. 

Bellotti was on the defense team for Fancy Pups in Woodbridge after the business was sued after a customer's German Shepard puppy died. More customers came forward to complain that the puppies were sick with parvovirus, a highly contagious and usually fatal disease, or that the pets were sick with a variety of other ailments not disclosed to them.

Filing the false mortgage loan applications caused several banks to provide loans to unqualified people, who eventually foreclosed on properties.

“This lawyer and his co-conspirators falsified mortgage applications so they could siphon away big closing fees, while leaving behind a trail of foreclosed properties and borrowers with ruined credit,” said Director Stephen J. Taylor of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We urge people to contact us confidentially to report lawyers and other licensed professionals who commit fraud.”

Fraudulent loans were filed in Marlboro, Newark, Hillsborough, Plainfield, Keansburg and Asbury Park. 

Both lawyers admitted to using the loans to take large closing fees for themselves through inflated sale prices.

Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mellaci Jr. in Monmouth County sentenced both men. The investigation was conducted and coordinated for the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau by Detective Kimberly Allen, Deputy Attorney General Noto, and Supervising Deputy Attorney General Terrence Hull, Chief of the Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau.