A former Henderson woman pleaded guilty Tuesday in a $1.5 million real estate scheme that involved using $232,000 of the ill-gotten gains to pay restitution in a state criminal theft case.
Mary Musso, 62, who now lives in New York, pleaded guilty to one federal wire fraud count stemming from the scheme, which is alleged to have occurred in August 2010. She also pleaded guilty to one count of making false claims to the Internal Revenue Service on her 2009 tax return.
Musso, who is free on her own recognizance, agreed to pay $1,350,000 in restitution to the chief victim of the scheme, a Las Vegas businesswoman, and other victims. She also agreed to pay the IRS $177,676.
She is to be sentenced June 3 before U.S. District Judge James Mahan.
Her lawyer, Jess Marchese, said later that Musso is looking to “move on with her life.”
The $232,000 was funneled through the client trust account of longtime attorney Mace Yampolsky, who defended Musso in a 2005 criminal case in Clark County District Court, according to her July 2012 indictment.
Yampolsky, who no longer represents Musso, was unaware of the scheme and was not accused of wrongdoing.
In August 2010, Musso fraudulently obtained $1,350,000 in loans using high-end condominiums as collateral without the knowledge of their owner, businesswoman Joan Morris, Musso’s plea agreement states.
Musso fabricated emails and forged deeds of trust and promissory notes in the scam, according to the plea agreement. Read more: