Enrique Hernandez, 34, Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank and mail fraud in connection with a scheme to inflate purchase prices and share kickbacks with his conspirators.The properties purchased in the scheme were subsequently allowed to fall into foreclosure.
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Karen Hanover, 48, Seal Beach, California, was sentenced to 35 months in federal prison for operating a $1.4 million fraud scheme that bilked clients who paid money in response to false promises of ownership in commercial real estate.
Ray Jan Kornfeld, 59, Las Vegas, Nevada, was sentenced by United States District Judge Troy L. Nunley to 5 years in prison for his role in a large-scale mortgage fraud scheme.
Carmen Johnson, 48, Gambrills, Maryland, was convicted by a federal jury on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and making a false statement on a loan application, arising from two residential mortgage fraud schemes.
Alberic Okou Agodio, 30, Bethesda, Maryland, was indicted on charges arising from a mortgage fraud scheme in which he used the names of immigrants and students, along with false financial information, to obtain approximately $3.8 million in home mortgage loans to buy approximately three dozen row houses in Baltimore, Maryland, all of which are in default or foreclosure.
Kirk Smith, Harris County, Texas, has been ordered to prison following his conviction for defrauding seven different Houston, Texas-area banks of more than $2 million in 2007 and 2008 with a check kiting scheme, which allowed him to use inflated account balances to qualify for loans and lines of credit. Continue Reading…
Donna Marie Kozak, La Vista, Nebraska, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska in Omaha to serve 36 months in prison and three years of supervised release for tax obstruction, filing a false claim and filing false retaliatory property liens.
Sharon Lynn Shaw, 67, San Jose, California, pleaded guilty in federal court to bank fraud and theft by bank officer. Shaw admitted that she used the names, Social Security numbers, and other personal information belonging to her parents, without their knowledge or authorization, to create false and fraudulent loan applications which she submitted to her employer Wells Fargo Bank.
Minerva Sanchez, 48, Fremont, California, a licensed real estate agent, was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii to 21 months in prison for her role in a short sale fraud scheme.
Fraudulent investment property schemes are on the rise in the form of straw borrowers, abnormally high appraisals, evasion of purchase guidelines and large numbers of purchased properties. Real estate investment scams typically spread by word-of-mouth and require people to invest large sums of money in investment properties. These types of scam promise a large increase in the value of the property resulting high returns or unusually high interest on contributed funds.