Thursday, October 1, 2026
After a two-year investigation, the Nassau County District Attorney’s office indicted 17 people — including a Long Beach man — for their roles in what has been called the largest mortgage fraud and identity theft scheme in Nassau County’s history, in which more than $20 million was stolen from homeowners, banks and the county government.
At a press conference on Wednesday in Mineola, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said that the 17 defendants were charged with more than 108 crimes for their roles in the operation. Rice said that 14 of the 17 defendants have been charged with enterprise corruption under New York’s Organized Crime Control Act (OCCA), among other charges, including grand larceny, scheme to defraud, and falsification of business records.
Among those arrested was Carlos Irizarry, 34, of Long Beach, a mortgage originator, who was charged with various criminal offenses including enterprise corruption, four counts of second-degree grand larceny, first-degree falsifying business records, first-degree scheme to defraud, and fourth-degree conspiracy.
Rice said the office’s Crimes Against Real Estate Unit, which she formed during the national economic and housing crisis back in 2009, uncovered the operation. The investigation, entitled “Operation: Sweet Deal,” revealed more than 45 independent acts of fraud.
The operation, Rice said, has been carried out in Nassau for nearly six years under the leadership of Westbury residents James Robert Sweet, 43, and Dwayne Benjamin, 44. Rice said that 16 defendants were arrested over a three-day span, and that one defendant is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.
“We’ve all seen the financial devastation caused by the collapse of the housing bubble. We have seen families put out on the street,” Rice said. “Houses bordered up, and entire neighborhoods reduced to virtual ghost towns. And if those struggles aren’t bad enough, here are two men—James Robert Sweet and Dwayne Benjamin—doing whatever is necessary to destroy even more lives, purely for their own financial benefit.”
