The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has issued a decision upholding a district court ruling that several defendants based in the United States and Canada deceived consumers through a telemarketing scheme designed to sell them phony mortgage assistance and debt relief programs.
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A fraud alert has been issued for all property owners of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Taxpayers are being targeted via a fraudulent letter, which claims that property owners can receive “a 5% discount property tax relief” if they have a running Home Equity Line of Credit.
Craig S. On, 62, Berkeley, California, CFO of United Commercial Bank, was charged in a criminal Information with one count of Conspiracy to Make a Materially False and Misleading Statement to an Accountant, for his role in an alleged scheme to defraud auditors by decreasing borrower defaults, which allowed the bank to increase its net assets on the balance sheet and increase net income on the income statement.
Jeremy Michael “Mike” Head, 34, Huntington Beach, California, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a nationwide foreclosure rescue scam. The case began on February 28, 2008, when a grand jury indicted Mike Head, his brother Charles Head, and 14 other defendants with violations of mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and other charges. Eleven of Heads co-defendants have entered guilty pleas.
Mark Nagy Atalla, a defendant in a 2013 Federal Trade Commission action targeting deceptive mortgage and debt relief pitches, is the subject of a Southern California federal district court judgment of nearly $515,000.
James P. Kyricopoulos, 65, Haverhill, Massachusetts, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Thomas Drechsler to three to five years in state prison followed by eight years of probation during which he must pay $24,000 in restitution to the victims for convincing homeowners to send him their mortgage payments in exchange for a loan modification.
Steve Weinstock, Roslyn Heights, New York, an attorney, has been arrested for allegedly stealing $720,000 held in an escrow account, as well as selling an East Hills, New York, property owned in the name of his law firm and pocketing over $700,000 in proceeds.
Numerous participants in an expansive mortgage fraud scheme were sentenced to prison on Monday, October 27, 2014, and Tuesday, October 28, 2014, by Chief United States District Judge James C. Dever, III. The defendants were involved in a conspiracy to defraud numerous banks and lenders using straw buyers resulting in mortgage loan disbursements exceeding $20 million, $5 million in loan proceeds, and losses exceeding $1 million.
Shannon Egeland, a former Bend, Oregon, real estate developer who pled guilty to mortgage fraud, was sentenced on January 29, 2014, to 120 months in prison. Egeland was to begin serving his sentence on August 1, 2014, by 2 pm. However, just prior to surrendering, Egeland was shot.
Top Agent Network, Inc. filed a lawsuit against leading online real estate company Zillow alleging theft of its proprietary trade secrets to create the highly touted “Coming Soon” feature.