P.

BACKGROUND

The defendant engaged in a series of fraudulent mortgage transactions, exploiting

five Hispanic victims who depended on her knowledge of real estate lending practices, as

well as her ability to read and comprehend English. Because an exhaustive explication of

the facts is not necessary to our resolution of the issues presented, we briefly summarize

what is otherwise a long and complicated history.

A. Faustina and Filiberto G.

Faustina and Filiberto G. were elderly Mexican immigrants who had minimal

education in Mexico and did not speak, read or write English. Faustina came to the

United States in 1970, when she was 40 years old, while Filiberto was older than 40 when

he came to this country. Filiberto had worked in a motor home factory in the past. In

2002, Filiberto and Faustina found a home through the defendant, who conducted

business as a real estate broker under the business name Isis Realty, and purchased it for

$71,000. By 2005, Filiberto was out of work due to health problems, although Faustina

still worked as a seamstress. Filiberto‟s memory was already failing in 2005 and he

depended on social security benefits because he did not have…