Jury to decide fate of former Miami-area
mayor accused of mortgage fraud
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[December 16, 2014]
By Zachary Fagenson
MIAMI (Reuters) - A former south Florida
mayor used her status in the Haitian community to lure individuals into
a scheme to fraudulently obtain mortgages, prosecutors said on Monday
during closing arguments in her fraud trial.
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Marie Lucie Tondreau, 54, was indicted on six counts of wire fraud
in May and faces up to 30 years in prison for allegedly helping her
onetime fiancée Karl Oreste collect at least $11 million on behalf
of straw buyers to finance 20 properties.
“Marie Lucie Tondreau was associated in some way with each of these
transactions,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Lois Foster-Steers. A
jury in the Southern District of Florida will begin deliberations on
Tuesday.
The scheme, according to court documents, took place from 2005 to
2008 when Tondreau was a well-known radio host before being elected
North Miami’s first female Haitian-American mayor in 2013. She is
suspended from her post while the case is pending.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Dec/16/images/ads/current/ccaonline_sda050208.png) Prosecutors said Tondreau was the linchpin, recruiting more than a
dozen people, including a former employee of her immigration
consulting firm who made $1,000 a month, to hand over their
information. That employee was used to take out three mortgages
worth nearly $1.7 million, Foster-Steers said.
Meanwhile Oreste, who pleaded guilty to seven wire fraud charges in
July, was expected to testify against Tondreau during the two-week
trial but was never called. Tondreau also did not take the stand in
her own defense.
Tondreau’s lawyers said Oreste used her in order to lend credibility
to the scheme that netted participants $5,000 or more for their
Social Security numbers and credit scores.
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“Lucie Tondreau was more than a girlfriend to this man, who
unbeknownst to her had other interests,” said defense attorney
Benedict Kuehne.
She is one of nearly a half dozen Miami-area mayors charged with
wrongdoing in the past two years. Former Homestead Mayor Steven
Bateman is due to be sentenced on Friday after a jury in September
found him guilty of holding an illegal consulting job while in
office.
(Reporting by Zachary Fagenson; Editing by David Adams and Eric
Beech)
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