Unlicensed St. Pete Mortgage Broker Sentenced for Fraud

Victor Clavizzao of St. Petersburg was sentenced this week to five years in federal prison for his involvement in a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme. He will serve three years probation after his release.

Clavizzao acted as a mortgage broker but didn’t have a license. Using “straw buyers” and false income figures, he arranged loans and then kept hundreds of thousands of dollars in loan proceeds. In addition to prison time, Clavizzao is required to repay more than $2 million that lenders lost due to his scheme and pay an almost $6 million fine.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and bank fraud. Prosecutors alleged that Clavizzao put false information on 13 applications for nearly $6 million worth of mortgage loans.

His federal criminal defense attorney argued that the lenders were, in essence, complicit in the scheme. The argument had no effect on the sentencing judge, who gave Clavizzao the maximum sentence for one count of conspiracy. The judge referenced the defendant’s lengthy criminal history which includes fraud and theft.

Clavizzao pleaded guilty last fall but was not sentenced until this month. In the intervening time, a pre-sentencing report was compiled for the court which provides the judge with detailed information about a defendant’s criminal, educational and social history, as well as information about the criminal acts, other conspirators and a defendant’s acceptance (or lack thereof) of responsibility for the crime. All of these factors can influence a judge’s sentencing decision.

At the time of his conviction on the current charge, Clavizzao was on probation for driving drunk and leaving the scene of an accident. Papers have reported that he tried to blame the accident on one of his children. Clavizzao also owes tens of thousands of dollars in civil judgments.