Besides a prison sentence, Lester Soto will have to make restitution of $3.7 million.
NEWARK -- The anguish for U.S. District Judge Esther Salas was palpable.
In her courtroom Wednesday stood Lester Soto, a co-founder of Premier Mortgage Services of Woodbridge, awaiting sentencing for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme that lost banks around $3.5 million -- his share of a $30 million fraud.
But also in the courtroom were dozens of family members, friends and individuals he sponsored through Narcotics Anonymous, with some still depending on his counsel.
How those two facets of his life could exist in the same person baffled Salas.
"There's such a great disconnect," she said. "How can someone have such an altruistic... life and perpetrate these frauds?"
In the end, the judge said that while the two counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud to which he pleaded guilty in 2013 does not define his life, those crimes did have consequences that Soto -- and those who depend on him -- will have to bear. She sentenced Soto to 21 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
Soto also will be responsible for making restitution of $3.7 million.
"All of the good... it doesn't negate the seriousness of the offense," she said.
The sentencing of Soto marks one of the final steps in the Premier Mortgage Services saga that began in 2006, with several other former Premier employees, a tax preparer, attorney and contractor all having been held accountable already for their roles in the fraud.
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That fraud had all the hallmarks of the loose mortgage practices that helped to bring down the economy in the Great Recession: the recruiting of "straw" property buyers in low-income neighborhoods; the use of no-documentation loans or loans with falsified income statements; and the collapse of the mortgage into foreclosure after the loan proceeds had been divided up.
Soto's attorney, Jeffrey Smith of Teaneck, acknowledged that 60 percent to 70 percent of the loans Premier secured were gotten through fraud.
Even while that was going on, Soto, who has been sober for nearly 30 years, provided meaningful support to others struggling to beat their addiction to drugs, Salas noted.
Because Soto cooperated with the investigation once he and others involved in the conspiracy were arrested, prosecutors recommended that Soto's sentence should be less than the minimum of 51 months specified in the government's recommendations.
Smith urged the court to impose a sentence that did not require prison time.
Salas rejected that idea because of the message a light sentence would send to others in the mortgage business.
For his part, Soto made a brief statement of apology, saying, "I've disappointed you all."
Family members seated behind him in the courtroom wept.
Tim Darragh may be reached at tdarragh@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @timdarragh. Find NJ.com on Facebook.