WHITE PLAINS – Federal authorities Wednesday announced the indictment of Louis Cherico, 69, of Eastchester, a Westchester lawyer who allegedly participated in a fraudulent real estate investment scheme.

Officials said the scheme had as its primary objective the purchase of multi-million dollar residential properties in communities including Purchase, Eastchester and Rye, with loans obtained through the submission of false and misleading information to banks and other lenders.

Many of the loans were equal to or more than 100 percent of the property’s actual sale price, so Cherico and his co-conspirators did not have to put any of their own money at risk in the transaction.

Cherico allegedly submitted documents to several federally insured banks with false or misleading information about the income, assets, existing debt and credit-worthiness of the borrower, the chain of title to the property, and the sale price of the home.

The indictment also charges Cherico with laundering the illegal obtained from the sale of one of the properties used in the mortgage fraud scheme by transferring the proceeds from a bank account controlled by Cherico to an account that was controlled by one of his co-conspirators, Dominick DeVito.