A federal judge Wednesday sentenced Sunny Isles Beach mortgage broker, lender and real estate agent Marco Laureti to 15 years in prison for leading a $20 million real estate fraud.

U.S. District Senior Judge James Cohn also ordered Laureti to pay nearly $8.32 million in restitution, and sentenced him to five years of supervised release after his imprisonment.

A jury convicted Laureti after a three-week trial in November of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and seven counts of wire fraud affecting Washington Mutual Inc.

“The sentence imposed is a success in our continuing efforts to fight mortgage fraud that jeopardizes our nation's financial institutions,” U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg said. “Laureti was a prominent businessman who used his reputation to perpetrate the $20 million mortgage fraud scheme, which thanks to the efforts of law enforcement, was successfully unraveled.”

Laureti was a licensed Florida real estate agent and former licensed mortgage broker who owned several companies, including a news operation called Laureti Publishing Co., according to the Justice Department. He also controlled Northview Equities, Northview Real Estate, Northview Capital, Laureti Holdings Co., Laureti Media Group Inc., ReTrade Inc. and M4 Management.

Prosecutors said he worked with three other conspirators to falsify mortgage loan applications and closing statements for multimillion-dollar condominiums at a waterfront mid-rise at 45 Hendricks Isle, near Las Olas Boulevard and downtown Fort Lauderdale. They said he then used the profits from the scam to purchase a $6.9 million estate in Miami Beach.

“Criminals are always looking for ways to exploit vulnerabilities and devise methods to defraud,” FBI Miami Special Agent in Charge Robert F. Lasky said. “Marco Laureti and his co-conspirators implemented a mortgage fraud scheme for their own personal enrichment, but instead got an investigation, a trial and a conviction. Would-be mortgage fraudsters beware: The FBI remains committed to rooting out this type of fraud.”

Court records list Miami attorney David Michael Garvin of David M. Garvin P.A. as defense counsel.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Randy Katz and Karen O. Stewart prosecuted.