Woman pleads not guilty to felonies

A Newport Beach woman accused of leading a mortgage fraud scheme pleaded not guilty to a dozen felonies and had her bail reduced Tuesday.

Mailan Thu Tran, 45, a Newport Coast resident, is charged with 11 counts of grand theft and one count of conspiracy of grand theft for allegedly leading a five-person group that lied to banks to get multiple mortgages on three homes.

While multiple mortgages on a home are legal, prosecutors say Tran and her crew did not reveal the other mortgages to the other banks and lied on the applications about job titles and salaries.

Tran and her co-defendants, married couple Nafees Ahmad Quidwai, 54, and Sabiha Quidwai, 34, both of Fountain Valley, had their bail halved to $250,000 each.

To pay the bond and be released from jail, each would have to prove that they got the money through legitimate means. Nafees Quidwai pleaded not guilty Tuesday. His wife had her arraignment postponed.

Authorities said Tran worked with the Quidwais, Trieu Thi Nguyen, 59, of Rosemead, and Cuc Huong Doan, 37, of Santa Ana, to receive more than $3.5 million worth of checks, cash and wire transfers from Southern California banks through the fraudulent mortgage applications.

Police have issued $500,000 warrants for Nguyen and Doan’s arrests. While the homes in question were in Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties, because Tran’s office is in Westminster and the banks were all deceived by similar means, authorities here consolidated the case, prosecutors said.

A pretrial hearing and bail review have been set for Tran and the Quidwais for Thursday in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.