White Plains man convicted of $126 million mortgage fraud scheme involving Moses Stern

A White Plains man was convicted on Wednesday for engineering a $126 million mortgage fraud scheme which was discovered with help from the same man who helped investigators when they nabbed former Spring Valley Mayor Noramie Jasmin and her deputy Joseph Desmaret.

Ephraim Frenkel was convicted by a jury and faces up to 40 years in prison for taking out $111 million and $15 million Citigroup loans through First Republic whose owner Moses Stern later turned informant after being busted by the FBI. Frenkel was discovered by Citigroup to have misused the funds and filing false closing costs which helped to inflate the size of the loan, receiving $50,000 in return.

Stern is best known in Rockland for his role in an FBI sting which netted Jasmin and Desmaret when he bribed the officials to win their support for a kosher catering hall. Desmaret has pled guilty to his charges while the case against Jasmin is ongoing.