Illinois
Mortgage Fraud - Illinois
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Illnois Shuts Down Mortgage Rescue Scam Including Seven Title Agencies
Illinois regulators shut down a ‘mortgage rescue’ scam that defrauded vulnerable Chicago metropolitan area residents of their homes. The alleged scheme preyed on homeowners at risk of foreclosure and conned them into signing over the title and any earned equity from their properties, allowing investors to purchase the homes at a fraction of...
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Three Final Guilty Pleas in Illinois Mortgage Fraud
Former Freeport, Illinois business owner Philip R. Miskimon and Lena, Illinois resident Julie Smith pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States in connection with the FHA mortgage insurance program. Another Freeport, Illinois area business owner, Douglas L. Hastings, pleaded guilty to related charges contained in the same...
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Chicago Loan Broker Pleads Guilty
James Rucker, mortgage broker, Chicago, Illinois admitted to his role in a scheme to defraud lenders of over $900,000 through more than a dozen mortgage transactions in Illinois between 1998 and 2002. The plea agreement indicates that Rucker and his co-conspirators used shell companies, false income, misrepresented asset documentation and fake...
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Illinois Undercover Operation Nets Two Arrests in Appraisal Scam
Dariusz Przybylek, 36, Highland Park, Illinois and Erwin Espe, 68, Wilmette, Illinois were named in a federal criminal complaint filed on April 10, 2006. The complaint alleges that from February 2005 through the filing of the complaint, the two committed mail fraud and wire fraud while engaged in a scheme to defraud First NLC Financial Services...
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Illinois Real Estate Agent Indicted in Theft of Client Proceeds
Robert ‘Bear’ Taylor, 46, real estate agent, Charleston, Illinois was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with two counts of wire fraud in connection with allegations that he diverted the proceeds of a sale of a client’s real estate and that he obtained a loan from the same client to be secured by property that he did not own. Taylor...
Monday, May 08, 2006
State Seeks to Shut Down Illinois Home Repair Contractor
Ronald W. Kafka and Father & Sons Contractors, Inc., a home repair and remodeling contractor, were sued by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and charged with violations of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act; the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act; and the Home Repair and Remodeling Act. The contractor has allegedly...
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Initial Results of Illinois Crackdowns on Unlawful Mortgage Brokerage Practices
As the result of a series of aggressive, new inspections by state regulators into mortgage lending practices, Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich announced on April 28, 2006 $190,750 in fines for 22 licensed residential mortgage offices and the suspension of one office in Oak Brook, Illinois for failing to comply with state regulations. Earlier...
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Possible Forged Deed Responsible for Woman’s Eviction in Illinois
Media sources report that a Cook County Illinois woman may have been the victim of theft by deed but no charges have been filed against the alleged perpetrator. Judith Ahrens, an out-of-work nurse in the spring of 2004, was facing a possible foreclosure for falling behind on the payments on her $93,000 mortgage. Todd Hansen, Rockford, Illinois...
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Former Mortgage Company Owner Pleads Guilty in Illinois Flipping Scheme
Lawrence V. Lynch, 53, Wilbraham, Massachusetts, the former president of Affordable Mortgage Co, pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and money-laundering conspiracy. He was charged in 2005 with twelve other people in connection with a real estate flipping scheme involving more than 100 homes in the greater Springfield area of...
Two More Guilty Pleas in $8M Illinois Mortgage Fraud
Gary Knox plead guilty to 11 counts of bank, mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering and his co-defendant, former real estate appraiser, Dennis Wiese Jr., plead guilty to four counts of bank, mail and wire fraud in connection with an $8M real estate flipping scheme that operated in the Springfield, Illinois area. Frank...
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Illinois Foreclosure Rescue Company Fined and Shut Down
Following a lawsuit brought by Illinois Cook County State’s Attorney Richard Devine, a fraudulent mortgage lending company has been fined $250,000 and banned from doing business in Illinois. Bold Funding, Inc. and its owner-operator, Bruce Wagner, were found to have violated Illinois law by falsely promising to secure private funding for loans to...
Illinois Bars Down Payment Assistance Program from Making False Statements
Partners in Charity, Inc. (PIC) based in West Dundee, Illinois-a down payment assistance organization, and its president-Charles M. Konkus of Barrington, Illinois, have been permanently barred from making false and misleading statements in promoting their down payment assistance program to house sellers. PIC and Konkus agreed to the civil...
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Guilty Plea in $8M Illinois Flipping Scheme
Frank Kelly Ciota, 45, Riverton, Illinois, plead guilty to one count of bank fraud, one count of wire fraud, five counts of fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in a connection with a $8M flipping scheme in Illinois. Ciota was named in a superseding indictment last August. His co-defendants, Dennis Weise, Jr.,...
Friday, March 31, 2006
Illinois Attorney General Files Suit Against Another Alleged Rescuer
Fighting one of the newer schemes in mortgage fraud, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed her third lawsuit in as many months against a mortgage “rescue” company and its officers for misleading homeowners to believe they could save their homes when in fact the homeowners were selling their homes to “rescue” company employees who stripped...
Monday, January 09, 2006
Appraiser Dismissed from Civil Lawsuit
Karen Kertz, the appraiser that was named as a defendant in the civil action filed by American Home Mortgage last year, has been dismissed from the lawsuit, along with her employer, ACT Appraisals. The following is Ms. Kertz’ statement with respect to the dismissal. I was a victim of professional identity theft. This lawsuit has been dismissed...
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Rachel 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 
