Man Pleads Guilty in Fraud Case
An Encino mortgage broker pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge of scheming to defraud Security Pacific National Bank of $1.2 million, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Ron Amiran, 60, a fugitive for seven years, controlled several Encino-based businesses involved in the mortgage and title industry, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
Contracted to provide loan services for a pension fund managed by Security Pacific, Amiran negotiated a loan to a New Mexico firm that wanted to pay off an existing debt. Amiran arranged for a $6.7-million loan from Security Pacific, but then fraudulently transferred $1.2 million to his own account, federal prosecutors said.
Amiran, who also used the name Ronen Amiran, was arrested in December while piloting a plane that wandered into protected airspace over Las Vegas, prosecutors said. Authorities there arrested him after Amiran displayed a driver’s license with a false name and a pilot’s license with his own name, they said.
Amiran will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Laughlin E. Waters on June 9.
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