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Ex-mortgage broker to plead guilty in Ponzi scheme

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 26, 2009

TAMPA - The victims were as old as 91 and their losses could add up to nearly $20 million.

Peter Bakowski, a 58-year-old former Tampa mortgage broker, has admitted orchestrating a Ponzi scheme that involved more than 30 investors and institutions and more than 150 deals, documents show.

Bakowski has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of making false statements to a financial institution, which carries up to 30 years in prison. He also faces a likely order to pay restitution to the victims.

According to his plea agreement, Bakowski sold mortgages to more than one investor at a time. The mortgages taken out by home buyers were sold by lending institutions to investors, who would assume the risks and benefit from the interest being paid.

Bakowski sold the mortgage assignments to multiple investors, promising high rates of return and using all the money he generated to "keep the scheme afloat," according to his plea agreement.

The scheme continued over five years and ended last year.

Bakowski told the Florida Office of Financial Regulation that the scheme involved more than $12 million in investments, the plea agreement states. He gave law enforcement a spread sheet supporting that figure.

The total losses are estimated at between $7 million and $20 million.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837.

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