Openings delayed until Tuesday due to family death on government team
Photo for Headline Surfer® / Ramara Garrett and Jim Sotolongo, along with Stephanie Musselwhite (not pictured here), will stand trial in U.S. District Court Tuesday in Orlando on mortgage fraud charges. The three have pleaded innocent to charges.ORLANDO -- A jury has been seated for the federal trial that begins Tuesday with opening statements by the government and defense attorneys in the Daytona Beach area mortgage fraud case against Jim Sotolongo, Ramara Garrett and Stephanie Musselwhite.
The trial was supposed to begin after the lunch break today, but the judge announced opening statements would begin Tuesday morning after the court was informed a member of lead prosecutor on Tanya Wilson's team had a sudden death in the family.
The trial is expected to last eight to 10 days with the government alleging that several banks and lending institutions were defrauded in more than half a dozen home purchases with inflated mortgages while the three defendants who have pleaded innocent counter the losses were due in part to lax regulations and the bursting of the housing bubble that exacerbated the situation.
Headline Surfer® will have an updated story overnight.