A Nevada company president was sentenced to six years in prison yesterday for a mortgage fraud scheme involving two properties on Oahu.

John Gilbert Mendoza, 58, also was sentenced to five years of supervised release and ordered to pay a special assessment of $1,875 and $881,514.98 restitution to three victims. 

On Feb. 10 a jury convicted Mendoza of conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, loan fraud, money laundering and failure to file tax returns.

U.S. Attorney Florence T. Nakakuni said Mendoza was president of a Nevada “shell” corporation with bank accounts in Hawaii and befriended Hawaii homeowners who were facing foreclosure, telling them that he had a plan for stopping the foreclosure proceedings and for allowing them to keep title to their homes. 

Mendoza organized the sale of the homes to third party straw buyers, buyers who never intended to reside in the property, Nakakuni said. To purchase the properties, the straw buyers took out loans in their name. The loans contained false statements about how much income the buyers earned, about who was going to reside in the property, and about who was going to make the monthly payments. 

After the loans were funded, Mendoza deposited the proceeds, which exceeded $431,000, into his own accounts. The loans went into default and the properties were both sold as part of foreclosure proceedings, Nakakuni said.