A New York City man has admitted he carried out a years-long scheme that combined mortgage fraud and an illegal marijuana grow operation in Saint Albans, pleading guilty in federal court to charges that could put him behind bars for decades.
Federal prosecutors say Ken Yiu, 49, secured an $80,000 residential mortgage from a Maine bank after falsely representing on his loan application that he intended to make the Saint Albans house his primary residence. That declaration, a routine but legally binding requirement for residential mortgage lending was central to obtaining the loan. According to court records, Yiu never intended to live in Maine at all.
Instead, the property became a fully operational marijuana grow site from September 2020 through January 2024, with Yiu using the home to cultivate and distribute marijuana out of state. During a December 2024 interview with federal agents, Yiu admitted he was “growing weed” at the property and that he sold marijuana grown there to buyers in Massachusetts.
The operation came to a head in January 2025, when federal agents executed a search warrant and confirmed the home had been used and maintained as an illegal drug site. The search further substantiated Yiu’s admission that the mortgage-funded home was used exclusively for marijuana cultivation and distribution rather than any residential purpose.
The legal consequences for Yiu are significant. He faces up to 30 years in federal prison and a maximum $1 million fine on the mortgage fraud count alone. The charge for maintaining a drug-involved premises carries an additional potential 20-year sentence and a $500,000 fine. A federal judge will determine sentencing after the U.S. Probation Office completes a presentence investigation, weighing the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines along with statutory factors.
Neither Yiu nor the Saint Albans property was licensed through the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy at any point during the nearly four-year operation, placing the grow house entirely outside Maine’s legal cannabis framework.
The FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, and IRS Criminal Investigation jointly investigated the case, which federal officials say highlights the intersection of financial fraud and illegal drug trafficking still occurring alongside legalized, regulated cannabis industries.
Yiu will remain under court supervision pending sentencing.
