A Brooklyn man, Ken Yiu, was sentenced to one day in prison and three years of supervised release in a federal court in Maine for his involvement in mortgage fraud and illegal marijuana cultivation and distribution. Yiu, 49, had previously pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud and maintaining a premises related to marijuana in December 2025. As part of the plea agreement, a bank fraud charge was dropped.
The case stemmed from Yiu’s purchase of a residence in St. Albans, Maine, in 2020. He applied for an $80,000, 25-year fixed-rate mortgage, claiming that the property would be his primary residence. However, he had no intention of living there and instead used it for large-scale illegal marijuana cultivation and distribution from September 2020 to January 2024.
A savings bank provided him with the mortgage. Yiu admitted to operating the “marijuana house” during questioning by federal agents in December 2024 and admitted to selling marijuana to buyers in Massachusetts. Federal agents executed a search warrant at the property on January 8, 2025, leading to Yiu’s indictment by a federal grand jury in February. He was arrested in Queens, New York, in March and released on $20,000 bail with restrictions to stay in New York unless attending court proceedings in Maine.
Prosecutors did not seek restitution from Yiu this time as he had sold the property and paid off the mortgage before sentencing. Records show that Yiu sold the property to a buyer from Brooklyn on September 2, 2026, and the mortgage was discharged on September 4, 2026.
According to local media reports cited by Centralmaine.com, there was a crackdown on illegal marijuana grow sites in rural areas of Maine between 2024 and 2025, with Yiu’s case being one of those prosecuted federally. Many of the raids took place in Somerset County, targeting illicit operations, with a notable number of arrests involving individuals of Chinese descent. Federal prosecutors in Maine suggested a possible connection between these illegal grow sites, estimated to be at least 100, and criminal organizations from China.
Furthermore, by the end of 2024, Maine’s Office of Marijuana Policy confirmed that over 120 previous illicit grow sites had transitioned into the state’s legal and compliant medical marijuana caregiver program.