WHITE PLAINS – A Central Valley man has been convicted in White Plains federal court of defrauding homeowners in Queens and the Bronx through a predatory mortgage scheme. Gregory Cooper, 42, was also convicted of carrying out a separate scheme in which he and his co-conspirators defrauded mortgage brokers around the country by selling them lists of purposed “live leads” – homeowners who had supposedly expressed an interest in speaking with a local mortgage broker about refinancing their mortgages – which were, in fact, lists of individuals who had never expressed any such interest.

Cooper began his scam from a Bronx office in 2003. Three years later, he moved the business to the basement of his Orange County home.

When sentenced next February, he faces up to 220 years in prison on his conviction on nine counts of mail fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.