A North Fort Myers husband and wife are being charged with seven counts of fraud after multiple complaints alleged that they collected more than $120,000 in a scam involving fraudulent mortgage loans, some in the tens of millions of dollars.
Barry Vigoda, 76, was arrested Saturday and his wife Catherine, 71, was arrested Friday on the charges. They were released on $60,000 bonds and will be arraigned June 4.
The alleged scams were carried out over a number of years and were based on claims by Barry Vigoda that he was a commercial mortgage broker. Complainants were from multiple states and some said they were responding to advertising by Vigoda on Craig's List.
According to court documents neither Vigoda was licensed in Florida nor was the company they advertised, Gulf Coast Mortgage Services, licensed in the state.
Court documents listed a number of victims who said they paid advance fees from $50,000 to $52,500 for mortgage loans from $280,000 to $75 million. The loans never materialized and the applicants said they were not refunded all their fees.