Pennsylvania
Mortgage Fraud - Pennsylvania
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Loan Officer Sentenced to 41 Months in Prison for Mortgage Fraud
Brian Tray, 52, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to 41 months of incarceration and five years of supervised release on his conviction of Conspiracy, Bank Fraud and Wire Fraud, all in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme. According to information presented to the court, Tray worked as a loan officer for, among other places, America’s Mortgage Outlet and Single Source Mortgage. In connection with numerous loans, Tray submitted loan applications on behalf of borrowers that he knew contained false information related to the borrowers’ income and …
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Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Atlanta Woman Charged And Pleads Guilty
Nancy Barlet, 50, Atlanta, Georgia, a woman who allegedly used false and fraudulent employment information to obtain mortgages and purchase several properties in the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania area was charged with mail fraud as an aider and abettor in a criminal Information filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Barlet has signed a plea agreement that was filed along with the criminal Information. The plea agreement indicates that the amount of money involved in the fraudulent mortgage scheme was more than $400,000 and less than $1 million. The Information alleges that Barlet, …
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Pennsylvania Man Indicted For Mortgage Fraud
Alex Gambini, 42, Greeley, Pennsylvania, was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury with using the mails to further a scheme in which false real estate appraisals and false employment documents were used by his company, First Advantage Financial, to qualify customers for inflated mortgages. The indictment states that Gambini operated First Advantage Financial during 1999-2002 in Lake Ariel, Hamlin, and Old Forge, and that during that time period he instructed others to use false real estate appraisals and false employment documentation to qualify customers for inflated mortgages. …
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Friday, August 29, 2008
Woman Pleads Guilty In $4.6M Mortgage Fraud Scheme
Joyce Davern, 37, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of Wire Fraud Conspiracy before Chief United States District Judge Donetta Ambrose. In connection with the guilty plea, Assistant United States Attorney Brendan T. Conway advised the court that Davern participated in a large mortgage fraud conspiracy that involved more than 75 loans and more than $4.6 million in loan proceeds. Davern and other members of the conspiracy, including her daughter, Kelly Fields, recruited borrowers to purchase properties at far above the true fair market values of the properties. …
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Monday, August 18, 2008
Guilty Plea In Pennsylvania Mortgage Fraud Case
Kelly Fields, 36, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of Wire Fraud Conspiracy. Fields pleaded guilty before Chief United States District Judge Donetta Ambrose. In connection with the guilty plea, Assistant United States Attorney Brendan T. Conway advised the court that Fields participated in a large mortgage fraud conspiracy that involved more than 75 loans and more than $4.6 million in loan proceeds. Fields was employed by different mortgage brokers, and she recruited borrowers to purchase properties at far above the true fair market values of the properties. To secure …
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Mortgage Broker Admits Defrauding Lenders
Richard J. Thomas, 44, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in federal court in Pittsburgh to a charge of mail fraud. Thomas pleaded guilty to one count before United States District Judge Joy Flowers Conti. In connection with the guilty plea, Assistant United States Attorney Luke Dembosky advised the court that, from in and around May 2002 to in and around February 2007, Thomas, while employed as a mortgage broker with Penntowne Mortgage Group, LLC, defrauded lenders by taking out second and third mortgages on residential properties without the owners’ knowledge, diverting the proceeds and other …
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Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Guilty Plea In Pennsylvania Misrep Scheme
Carrie Webb was charged in a criminal Information with wire fraud conspiracy in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme. Webb and other conspirators at People’s Home Mortgage identified in the Information as ”LT” and ”CC”, allegedly submitted loan applications to lenders containing material misrepresentations as to borrowers’ financial information thereby inducing lenders to fund loans for otherwise unqualified borrowers. Webb pleaded guilty to the charge on July 10, 2008. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.  mortgage fraud
Monday, July 14, 2008
Loan Processor Received More Than 3 Years For Approving Fraudulent Loans
Marcus Wiseman, Bethesda, Maryland, was sentenced to a term of 41 months, 5 years supervised release and restitution in the amount of $375,861, for processing and approving loans for two other individuals when he knew that the loan applications contained false representations. Restitution payments were ordered joint and several with Jeffrey Martin. Wiseman restitution payments were ordered to the 2 following victims: $174,451 to Countrywide Home Loans; and $201,410 to National City Mortgage Company. As previously reported by Mortgage Fraud Blog, Marcus Wiseman was indicted by a federal …
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Monday, July 07, 2008
Pennsylvania Fraudster Gets 12 Years In Prison
Wesley A. Snyder, 71, Oley, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 146 months in prison, 36 months probation, and was ordered to pay over $29M in restitution for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme that defrauded more than 800 individuals. As previously reported by Mortgage Fraud Blog, Snyder was charged in a one count Information filed in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with Mail Fraud Affecting a Financial Institution, 18 U.S.C. § 1341. The Information alleges that between 1988 and September of 2007, Snyder defrauded individuals throughout Central and Eastern Pennsylvania …
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Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Mortgage Fraud Sentencing Affirmed On Appeal
Nathan Parker, 49, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the ringleader of a $4 million mortgage fraud scheme, was sentenced to serve 9 years, 7 months in federal prison by United States District Judge Orinda D. Evans on charges of conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud and mail fraud. Parker appealed his sentences, claiming that the Government breached the plea agreement at sentencing by recommending that the court impose sentences above the bottom of the Guidelines sentence range. The breach occurred in two ways: (1) the Government improperly informed the court that it was not bound by the plea agreement because …
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Thursday, May 29, 2008
Its Prison For Loan Scam Artist
Scott Winovich, 43, Mars, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to 41 months of incarceration and three years of supervised release on his conviction of Bank Fraud and Tax Evasion. According to information presented to the court by Assistant United States Attorney Brendan T. Conway, Winovich was involved, through various businesses, with acquiring rental properties in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. Between 1994 and 2003, Winovich purchased hundreds of rental units and other property using loans exceeding $14 million that he received from a variety of financial institutions. Winovich obtained …
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Guilty Plea In Precision Mortgage Fraud Scheme
Jason Jester, 38, South Park, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of Wire Fraud Conspiracy. Jester pleaded guilty to one count before Chief United States District Judge Donetta Ambrose. In connection with the guilty plea, Assistant United States Attorney Brendan T. Conway advised the court that Jester, along with Randy Carretta, operated Precision Mortgage, a mortgage broker business that assisted individuals in obtaining financing to purchase real estate. As previously reported by Mortgage Fraud Blog, Jester, along with other members of the conspiracy, obtained financing …
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Friday, May 16, 2008
Guilty Plea In Conspiracy To Inflate Property Values
Anthony Fields, 38, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in connection with a mortgage fraud conspiracy involving inflated property values. As previously reported by Mortgage Fraud Blog, and according to his plea, Fields participated in a mortgage fraud conspiracy with, among others, his sister-in-law, Kelly Fields, who was an unlicensed mortgage broker. As part of the scheme, Kelly Fields recruited buyers to purchase properties for prices much higher than the true market value of the properties. Kelly Fields would then obtain financing for these buyers by submitting …
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Thursday, April 17, 2008
Judge Dismisses Borrower Class Action
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by a class of people victimized by the owner of a defunct mortgage company who allegedly operated a mortgage fraud scheme. In the ruling, U.S. District Judge James Giles said the banks that underwrote the mortgages had no obligation to monitor the Reading, Pennsylvania-based broker, Wesley Snyder, and that neither Synder or any of his companies were agents of the lenders. Plaintiffs Douglas A. and Andrea M. Jones filed their initial class action complaint in the Berks County Court of Common Pleas on September 25, 2007, …
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Monday, April 14, 2008
2 Pennsylvanians Plead Guilty to Misrepresentation Charges
Aaron Thompson, 32, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Randy Carretta, 44, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to one count each of Participating in a Wire Fraud Conspiracy before United States District Court Judge Joy Flowers Conti and Chief United States District Court Judge Donetta Ambrose, respectively. In connection with the guilty plea of Thompson, Assistant United States Attorney Brendan T. Conway advised the court that Leon Truskowski and Colleen Chiavetta operated a mortgage broker business, located in Pittsburgh’s West End, called People’s Home Mortgage that assisted borrowers in obtaining financing to purchase homes. Thompson …
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Rachel Dollar is an attorney and Certified Mortgage Banker who handles fraud recovery litigation for lenders and secondary market investors nationwide. She is a nationally recognized speaker on the topic of mortgage fraud. Ms. Dollar is licensed to practice law in California and maintains offices in Santa Rosa, California. 
