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Woman convicted in equity fraud case

She and her husband, who was convicted last year, made about $70,000 in two years.

By JOSE CARDENAS
Published June 1, 2007

They were 20 homeowners from St. Petersburg to Hudson who owed little on their houses or owned them outright.

But when they sold their houses to a real estate agent and her husband, the homeowners became victims of fraud, a jury decided Thursday night.

Some lost their homes altogether. Others spent tens of thousands of dollars to get their homes back.

Synthia Ippolito, 37, was convicted of scheming to defraud and "equity skimming." She can receive a maximum of 30 years in prison.

Ippolito, a former Largo resident who now lives in Hudson, has seven children, ages 3 to 14.

"This person took all my savings and retirement money," Donna Chadwick, who testified during the trial, said in a letter to the court. "I now work two jobs to try to recoup the losses."

Ippolito's ex-husband, Christopher Nickelson, 45, was convicted in the scheme last year and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Jurors deliberated about three hours, rejecting a defense argument that Ippolito was a victim of domestic violence who was forced into some of the fraudulent transactions.

Between 1998 and 2000, Nickelson and Ippolito bought homes in which the owners had built up a lot of equity, Assistant State Attorney Evan Brodsky said.

They convinced the sellers to lend them about half the asking price on the houses they bought, authorities said. The couple promised the sellers monthly payments for a few years, followed by a final balloon payment.

The couple then went to private lenders, officials said. The lenders, individuals who made loans as investments, made a second loan to the couple for the rest of the purchase price because the properties had a lot of equity.

The deal was structured so the lenders' mortgages would have priority over the sellers' mortgages. That meant that if the couple stopped paying everyone, the lenders could take over the property.

At closings, Ippolito and Nickelson spent some of the money from the lenders on closing costs, down payments, and a few monthly mortgage payments. Typically, authorities said, they walked away with a couple of thousand dollars.

They put renters in the homes, but soon stopped making payments to the sellers and lenders.

The equity skimming occurred when the couple took rent money on mortgaged homes that were in default and spent it on themselves. Prosecutors said the couple made a total of about $70,000 from the transactions.

During the seven-day trial, defense attorney Robert Tager argued that Nickelson had been doing those transactions years before he met Ippolito. Ippolito, he said, wanted to learn from her new husband how to invest in property with no money down. She bought a few properties on her own in the beginning with no intent to commit fraud, Tager said.

Ippolito testified that in some of the later transactions, Nickelson coerced her through physical abuse.

[Last modified June 1, 2007, 07:02:15]