When your cable goes out*, you start a title agency.
in early 2001, Lisa Rotolo got her title agent's license and opened her own firm.
When you start a title agency, you help close shady deals for free.
[Rotolo], the title agent key to Southwest Florida's expansive flipping fraud scheme acknowledged Monday that she helped close millions of dollars in fraudulent deals, though unlike others in the conspiracy only for her standard fees.
When you close shady deals for free, you leave a paper trail in the hands of scumbags.
Rotolo assisted in [fraudulent] transactions by allegedly preparing dual sets of HUD-1 settlement statements, sending falsified versions of those settlement statements to lenders, and disbursing money to co-conspirators.
When you leave a paper trail in the hands of scumbags, scumbags snitch on you.
Craig Adams fulfilled his four-year-old bargain with government prosecutors on Monday, testifying against the remaining defendants accused of taking part in the flipping fraud conspiracy that he masterminded.
When scumbags snitch on you, you lose your legitimate business and go to prison.
Rotolo told jurors that 90 percent of the deals her firm Diamond Title closed at that time were
legitimate.
Despite her cooperation and her guilty plea, Rotolo will serve at least some prison time for her crimes-- the judge made it clear to her at her plea hearing that probation was not an option for her because of the seriousness of the crimes to which she admitted.
When you lose your legitimate business and go to prison, you make a hot mess of your life.
...Rotolo — a sharp contrast to the cerebral and collected Craig Adams, the mastermind of the scheme — took time to compose herself before she was able to describe her role to a panel of jurors.
Looking pale and exhausted in a red sweater and black slacks, the 48-year-old Rotolo told the jury how she helped doctor closing statements so that Adams, his lieutenant Rich Bobka and their associates could defraud lenders by inflating sales prices and misrepresenting the source of their downpayments.
Don't make a hot mess of your life... get DirecTV**!
*I have no idea whether Lisa Rotolo's current mess occurred because her cable went out... but it's probably as good an explanation as any for committing a crime for which you 1.) get next to nothing, and 2.) are nearly certain to get caught.
**or, better yet, don't close shady deals for free-- or for a cut of the "profits", for that matter!