Milton Retana, 46, Huntington Park, California, who preyed on Spanish-speaking investors with promises of hefty returns in the real estate bubble has been found guilty of federal charges for bilking more than 2,000 victims out of more than $62 million. Retana was convicted of six counts of mail fraud and one count of making false statements to government agents who were
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Wayne Puff, 61, Old Bridge, New Jersey, the ringleader of a massive Ponzi scheme which defrauded hundreds of investors and mortgage lenders of more than $100 million through a purported real estate investment business, was sentenced to 216 months in federal prison and ordered to pay approximately $101.1 million in restitution and to serve 3 years of supervised
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The USMAC Law Group is prohibited from doing loan modifications in Oregon and must pay $28,857 under a settlement with the Oregon Department of Justice. The settlement will provide refunds to some Oregon homeowners and prohibit a California law firm from doing further loan modification work in Oregon.
The Oregon
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James Ragnauth, Beaumont, Texas, a defendant charged in a mortgage fraud case, who was on the run for about six weeks and apprehended on a shrimp boat in the Caribbean Sea by the U.S. Coast Guard in March 2009, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater to 37 months in federal prison. Judge Fitzwater also ordered Ragnauth to pay approximately $205,000 in
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Janet Salazar, a.k.a. Yanet Salazar, 37, Queens Village, New York, a loan officer, has been convicted of stealing the personal identity of a former client to help another client purchase a house in Brooklyn. Salazar was convicted of first-degree identity theft, third-degree unlawful possession of personal identification information and third degree criminal possession of
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Thanh Hoang, 64, Bethesda, Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to impede the IRS, arising from a scheme to conceal millions in profits earned from the purchase and sale of foreclosure properties.
According to Hoang’s plea agreement,
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Edward Levinson, 50, Chesterfield, Missouri, pled guilty to bank fraud charges in connection with his construction business, resulting in more than $14 million in losses to banks and prospective home owners and subcontractors.
As previously reported on Mortgage Fraud Blog, according to the indictment, Continue Reading...
BernardB. Kerik, 54, former Commissioner of the New York City Police Department and the Department of Corrections, pleaded guilty in White Plains federal court to eight felonies, two of which were separately charged in an Indictment in the District of Columbia.
Kerik pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing and impeding the due
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Felix Pichardo, 27, Lancaster, California was sentenced to eight years in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution of $777,000 in relation to a mortgage fraud scheme in which he “purchased” homes in Altadena and Riverside, California. Pichardo pleaded
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Hugh Zuber, 39, Monsey, New York, a lawyer formerly employed by the Office of the Corporation Counsel for the City of New York, pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud arising from his participation in schemes to defraud two former clients. Zuber had represented the clients, in a personal capacity, in connection with their sale of real estate to Continue Reading...