A Plymouth man who masterminded a $420 million bank fraud scheme will serve a three-year prison sentence.
On Thursday, Matthew Onofrio, 34, of Plymouth, was sentenced to 36 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release. He will have to pay back nearly $5.4 million in restitution.
According to federal prosecutors, Onofrio, an anesthetist and real estate investor, created a real estate investment program where Onofrio would enter into purchase agreements for commercial properties and then assign them to novice investors at highly inflated prices.
Onofrio allegedly coached these investors to lie to banks to secure loans they couldn’t afford, based on falsified information.
This falsified information was reportedly created by Onofrio, creating fake personal finance statements that falsely indicated the investors had enough cash for the loan’s down payment.
He would also lend investors money to secure loan payments, wiring the needed funds to others’ accounts when they applied for a loan.
Onofrio would also loan his investors money to cover the down payment, but would not include the loans on the investors’ personal financial statements or record them as a second mortgage on the property, keeping them hidden from the banks.
From 2020 to 2022, Onofrio is believed to have completed 68 deals involving more than $420 million in fraudulently obtained bank loans. Federal prosecutors said Onofrio received at least $35.7 million before his arrest.
