Mortgage Fraud Blog is the premier website for news and information on mortgage fraud and real estate fraud throughout the United States.
imageRachel Dollar, the editor of Mortgage Fraud Blog, is an attorney and Certified Mortgage Banker who handles litigation for lending institutions and secondary market investors. She is an author and a nationally recognized speaker on the topic of mortgage fraud. Ms. Dollar is a shareholder with the law firm of Smith Dollar, PC, is licensed to practice law in California and maintains offices in Santa Rosa, California. Email Ms. Dollar

Mortgage Fraud Blog is co-sponsored by Interthinx the leading provider of fraud services and solutions for the mortgage industry.



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Dollar in the News

June 5, 2009 - Miami Herald
Feds Get Tough on Mortgage Fraud

January 18, 2009 - New York Times
Loan Fraud Seen on the Rise

November 18, 2008 - Willamette Week
House of Gain

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Recent Posts

- Suit Filed Alleging Massive Real Estate Fraud Scheme
- New Yorker Pleads Guilty to Stealing and Selling a Disabled Man’s House
- Lawyer Charged With Stealing Escrow Funds
- 14 Indicted for $100M Mortgage Fraud Scheme
- Foreclosure Consultant and Lawyer Sued for Phony Lawsuit Scam
- Man Charged With Identity Theft and Mortgage Fraud
- Minneapolis Man Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud
- FBI Issues 2008 Mortgage Fraud Report
- Man Sentenced for Mortgage Fraud Scheme
- Pennsylvania Man Sentenced for Falsifying Loan Applications

Friday, July 10, 2009

Suit Filed Alleging Massive Real Estate Fraud Scheme

A consumer fraud lawsuit against numerous Tucson, Arizona, real estate professionals and businesses was filed alleging a sophisticated, multi-million-dollar real estate fraud scheme. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants engaged in a sophisticated system of fraud that led to the filing of foreclosure notices on more than 130 homes and caused...

   

New Yorker Pleads Guilty to Stealing and Selling a Disabled Man’s House

Shawn Corcas, 39, St. Albans, New York, pleaded guilty to stealing the identity of a 68-year-old Jamaica, Queens, man who had been disabled as a result of a stroke and then secretly selling his house out from under him and pocketing the profits.

The defendant pleaded guilty before Queens Supreme Court Justice Joseph Grosso to one count of...

   

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Lawyer Charged With Stealing Escrow Funds

Marc A. Bernstein, 54, New York, New York, a lawyer, was indicted and charged with stealing settlement and escrow monies from his clients. This second indictment charges the defendant with stealing more than $1.5 million from five clients. This follows a previous indictment that was unsealed on May 19, 2009 charging the defendant with stealing...

   

14 Indicted for $100M Mortgage Fraud Scheme

AFG Financial Group, Inc., a mortgage origination company, Aaron Hand, 12/25/1971, Oyster Bay Cove, New York; Eugene Culbreath, 5/30/1973, Valley Stream, New York; Eric Shields, 12/19/1964, Media, Pennsylvania; Matthew McDermott, 10/20/1986, Merrick, New York; Marc Zirogiannis, 5/21/1968; Levittown, New York; Kenneth Law, 6/01/1956, Pelham, New...

   

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Foreclosure Consultant and Lawyer Sued for Phony Lawsuit Scam

Paul Noe Jr., a foreclosure consultant, and Mitchell Roth, an attorney, have been sued for allegedly conneing 2,000 desperate homeowners into paying exorbitant fees for "phony lawsuits" to forestall foreclosure proceedings.

These lawsuits were filed and abandoned, even though homeowners were charged $1,800 in upfront fees, at least $1,200 per...

   

Man Charged With Identity Theft and Mortgage Fraud

Raphael Libardi, Athem, Arizona, co-owner of the Phoenix based business Aracruz International Granite, allegedly illegally in this country from Brazil, has been booked on identity theft and mortgage fraud charges for using the social security number of a deceased person.

Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies executed search warrants at Aracruz...

   

Minneapolis Man Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud

Frederick Earle Deen, III, 29, Minneapolis, Minnesota, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of tax evasion in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme. He entered his plea July 1, 2009, before United States District Court Judge Richard Kyle. Deen was charged on April 21, 2009.

According to Deen's plea agreement, he admitted...

   

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

FBI Issues 2008 Mortgage Fraud Report

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2008 Mortgage Fraud Report, mortgage fraud Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) referred to law enforcement increased 36 percent to 63,713 during fiscal year (FY) 2008, compared to 46,717 reports in FY 2007. While the total dollar loss attributed to mortgage fraud is unknown, financial...

   

Man Sentenced for Mortgage Fraud Scheme

Scott Alexander, 70, Merriam, Kansas, has been sentenced to one year and a day in federal prison for mortgage fraud. 

Alexander pleaded guilty in January, 2009, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. In his plea he admitted that in 2003 and 2004 he conspired with co-defendant Wildor Washington, Jr., and others to...

   

Pennsylvania Man Sentenced for Falsifying Loan Applications

Francis R. Conti, 42, Erie, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to thirty‑three months in jail and ordered to pay $46,183.91 in restitution on his conviction of conspiracy and mail fraud.

United States District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin imposed the sentence on Conti. According to information presented to the court by Assistant...

   

Monday, July 06, 2009

Three Men Sentenced in Mortgage Fraud Scheme

Harold Stafford, 43, Sumner County, Tennessee has been sentenced to serve eight years of imprisonment for conviction on fifty-one counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering. As previously reported on Mortgage Fraud Blog, Stafford and two co-defendants; Miles Jackson Black and Jeffrey Dunn Hathcock were indicted in November...

   

2 Former Staten Island Residents Indicted for $1 Million Real Estate Title Fraud

Joseph DeVito, 39, and his wife, Mary Ann Palladino-DeVito, 41, former residents of Staten Island, New York, now residing in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, have been arraigned on an indictment alleging that from 2002-2004 they embezzled over $1 million from homeowners seeking to clear titles, as well as their franchise's parent company. The...

   

Title Insurance Company Owner Charged in $1.7 Million Fraud Scheme

Jonathan Boxman, 46, an owner and operator of real estate title insurance companies, was charged in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, with defrauding clients of title companies he controlled of more than $1.7 million. According to the criminal complaint, Boxman stole money that was entrusted to those companies and used it to pay operating...

   

Guilty Verdict For Mortgage Fraud Ringleader

Uto Essien, 45, the ringleader of a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud operation, has been convicted by an Adams County jury on four felony charges all related to the use of shell corporations and false invoices to skim money off the top of nearly three-dozen real estate transactions, announced Colorado Attorney General John Suthers.

Essien's...

   

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Mortgage Fraud Scheme Leads to 83 Count Indictment

Benjamin Tubbs, 49, Pickerington, Ohio, Kevin Murphy, 50, Blacklick, Ohio, and Karl Mullins, 33, formerly of Columbus, Ohio, and now residing in Florida, are alleged to have acted as the mortgage brokers and orchestrators of a scheme to buy and sell houses at highly-inflated prices and to falsify loan documents in order to skim ten of thousands...

   

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Today's News

Some Sources require Registration.

 

New Appraisal Rules Tangle Home Sales
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Put some distance between lenders and home appraisers, so they can't collude to say a home is worth more than it should be.

Otis Bevel Due in Court Today to be Sentenced for Mortgage Fraud, Conspiracy
The Plain Dealer - cleveland.com - Cleveland, OH
Bevel, 49, of Shaker Heights, was a real estate broker. He, his family and friends fraudulently bought houses using fictitious loan documents they submitted to title companies and lenders, Assistant Prosecutor Dan Kasaris said.

Erie Area Mortgage Broker Gets Prison in Fraud Case
GoErie.com - Erie, PA
Shortly before receiving a nearly three-year federal prison sentence, former mortgage office manager Francis R. Conti told the judge he never meant to defraud any of the homeowners caught up in a widespread local mortgage-fraud scheme.

Three Former Portland-Area Mortgage Brokers Face Fraud Charges
OregonLive.com - Portland, OR
Joel D. Surprenant, Michael Duc Han and Benjamin Lucian Lucescu all were charged with one count of obtaining mortgage loans through materially false and fraudulent pretenses.

Shaker Pair Pleads Guilty to Mortgage Fraud Charges
Cleveland.com - Cleveland, OH
Two Shaker Heights residents recently pleaded guilty to charges involving a mortgage scheme with seven area houses and $3 million in fraudulent loans.

Feds File Charges in Five Mortgage Fraud Cases
Chicago Breaking News - Tribune - Chicago, IL
Federal charges were filed today against 37 people and four companies in five separate mortgage fraud cases.

Feds Fighting Back
Contra Costa Times - Walnut Creek, CA
Mortgage fraud has increased so dramatically in the San Joaquin Valley that a task force of federal, state and local agencies has been formed to fight back.

Private Investigator Sees Rise in Mortgage Fraud Due to Economy
PR Web - Ferndale, WA
In the past 12 months his firm has been retained to conduct over 300 mortgage fraud investigations, a 100% increase from 2007.

Former UGA, NFL Football Player Arthur Marshall Charged With Mortgage Fraud Claims
WJBF-TV - Augusta, GA
He is also accused of defrauding three banks in obtaining loans for seven different properties in Columbia and Richmond Counties.

Cuomo Subpoenas Loan Modification Companies
New York Times - United States
“The entire industry is a scam, in my opinion,” Mr. Cuomo said Tuesday. “These are services that homeowners don’t need to pay for in the first place.”

Previous Articles

TRIAL COVERAGE

Trial coverage provided by Anne Mitchell, Crazy Fish Realty.

Update - US v. F. Jeffrey Miller, et al.

Miller II: Judge Julie Robinson has ruled in favor of the defense motion granting a continuance for sentencing of the 3 convicted defendants: F. Jeffrey Miller, Steve Vanatta and Hallie Irvin. The three will now be sentenced after ruling on post trial motions set for August 10, 2009.

Vanatta has been in custody for over 2 years.  Vanetta filed a motion for his release pending sentencing. That motion was denied.

Miller remains free pending his sentencing. He has hired a new attorney who filed a motion to delay Miller's sentencing. In one post trial motion, the defense argues as to what assets are subject to seizure.

Defendant Todd Earnshaw is a Kansas City real estate Broker (and brother in law of Miller). Earnshaw has been indicted in what is commonly referred to as Miller I. A trial date for that matter has been set for January, 2010 in Topeka, Kansas.

The Government filed a motion to revoke Earnshaw's bond and remand him to custody while he awaits trial after learning that he allegedly committed the state crimes of Driving Under the Influence, Handicap Parking Violation and Failure to Control Speed to Avoid a Collision while on pretrial release. Notwithstanding finding that probable cause existed to believe that Earnshaw committed the aforementioned state crimes, Judge Robinson denied the motion, but ordered several strict conditions that Earnshaw must follow pending his trial.



More Trial Coverage

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© Copyright 2004-2007 Rachel M. Dollar

Legal Disclaimer.
The information and notices contained on Mortgage Fraud Blog are intended to summarize recent developments in mortgage fraud cases and mortgage banking matters nationwide. The posts on this site are presented as general research and information and are expressly not intended, and should not be regarded, as legal advice. Much of the information on this site concerns allegations made in civil lawsuits and in criminal indictments. All persons are presumed innocent until convicted of a crime. Readers who have particular questions about mortgage banking, mortgage fraud matters or who believe they require legal counsel should seek the advice of an attorney. The creators, editors and sponsors of Mortgage Fraud Blog do not intend to create a confidential relationship or an attorney-client relationship by communication via or arising from this site.

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