CRANBERRY TWP — Four men were indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday in connection with alleged schemes to commit fraud at two township housing developments and five other properties.

According to James P. Kennedy Jr., U.S. attorney for the Western District of New York, a 62-count indictment was returned by a federal grand jury against Frank Giacobbe, 43, of East Amherst, N.Y.; Patrick Ogiony, 34, of Buffalo, N.Y.; Kevin Morgan, 42, of Pittsford, N.Y.; and Todd Morgan, 29, of Rochester, N.Y., charging them with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and substantive wire fraud and bank fraud charges. The Morgans are the nephew and son, respectively, of developer Robert Morgan.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

The indictment comes after an investigation into the practices of the men on behalf of Morgan Communities and Morgan Management, which owns the Eden Square and Rochester Village housing developments in Cranberry Township.

They stand accused of using a variety of tactics to secure loans from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. and the Federal National Mortgage Association and other lenders, including Arbor Commercial Mortgage LLC and Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC. Those loans would not have been given for such large amounts, or not at all, had accurate information been reported, documents state.

According to documents, the alleged actions took place between March 2011 and June 2017. In total, loans issued amount to $167,591,000 for the Rochester Village and Eden Square properties, as well as properties in Southpointe in Canonsburg and four others in and around the Buffalo area.

“The defendants are charged with fraudulently obtaining over $167.5 million worth of loans relating to seven residential apartment complexes located here in New York and in Pennsylvania,” Kennedy said. “Most of those loans were in turn sold to ... entities which were created by Congress to perform an important role in our country’s housing finance system.

“As a result of the fraudulent conduct alleged in this indictment, defendants’ conduct not only unjustly enriched them but threatened to undercut the very foundations upon which our mortgage banking and investment systems are based.”

According to documents filed May 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, a search warrant was issued for the company’s Pittsford office. The documents, which were intended to be sealed, were posted on a public website for several hours, and give background on the investigation.

According to the federal affidavit, investigations at Rochester Village showed “a variety of fraudulent conduct in connection with attempts to secure loans on the property.”

From 2014 through 2017, the Morgans are said to have provided fraudulent rent rolls, income statements and other documents reflecting the property’s income, which is allegedly shown in emails seized by federal investigators.

Documents indicate the group reported one of the buildings at Rochester Village was occupied and earning rental income before the Cranberry Township Planning and Development department had issued an occupancy permit. This information was used in an attempt to secure a loan.

The affidavit also indicates the group “conspired to inflate the income for storage units at Rochester Village by reporting more units than actually existed, and greater income than the units could actually produce.” The indictment indicates when asked where such figures came from, one of the defendants replied, “magic.”

Investigators also allege the four men conspired to stage unoccupied units during inspections by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., to give the impression the units were occupied. They did this by “turning on radios in unoccupied apartments and placing mats and shoes outside the doors of unoccupied apartments,” documents state.

During a January 2015 inspection by potential lender Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., Giacobbe also allegedly arranged for a woman to stage an apartment to make it appear to be occupied, and to tell inspectors that her boyfriend was asleep in the bedroom, which was found to be lacking a bed.

The affidavit also indicates the group tried to inflate income by reporting charges to tenants for cable TV when cable was already included free in their rent. They also allegedly reported false rent rolls and income statements, leading to higher appraisal values.

At Eden Square, the group allegedly committed fraud to pass a radon inspection, and provided false rent rolls and occupancy reports, documents state.

“We must protect the tens of thousands of investors who own mortgage-backed securities,” said Gary Loeffert, special agent-in-charge of the Buffalo Division. “This investigation is focused on stopping people from undermining the residential and commercial financing industry.

“Fraud for profit aims to misuse the mortgage lending process to steal cash.”

Some of the defendants were scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder.