Thursday, June 29, 2006
Two Pennsylvania Men Indicted In Alleged Fraud Involving Numerous Loans
Christopher Fekos, 48, McMurray, Pennsylvania and Joseph Howcroft, 26, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on fifteen counts of Conspiracy, Bank Fraud, Mail Fraud, Bribery of a Bank Employee, Uttering and Possessing Forged Securities of an Organization Involved in Interstate Commerce, and...
Additional Defendant Charged In Hattiesburg, Mississippi Mortgage Fraud
A superseding indictment was filed in the case of US v. Lucas, the Hattiesburg, Mississippi mortgage fraud case that resulted in the indictment of ten people earlier this year. The superseding indictment names one new defendant – Kenneth Fairley, Jr. who is alleged in the indictment to have acted as a nominal buyer for the purpose of obtaining...
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Wisconsin Attorney and Paralegal Charged with Theft by Fraud
John E. Sanborn, 66, Beloit, Wisconsin, former attorney and Joan E. Marcott, 65, Janesville, Wisconsin, his paralegal were each charged in Rock County, Wisconsin, with two counts of theft by fraud. In addition, Marcott has been charged with one count of criminal slander of title. According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice criminal...
Ohio Man Allegedly Commits Mortgage Fraud With Family While Bonded out on Similar Scheme
A Grand Jury in Franklin County, Ohio indicted a father, mother, son and their associate for allegedly taking part in a scheme to artificially inflate the value of a Columbus, Ohio property in order to collect significant loan proceeds from an unsuspecting lender. The multiple-count indictment includes charges of theft, forgery, money laundering...
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Siding Company Owner Wanted in Omaha, Nebraska
Darrell A. Hamilton, 36, is wanted by police in Omaha, Nebraska on charges of second degree forgery. Hamilton owns a company known as Windows and Siding Center of America. He is alleged to have forged the homeowner’s signature endorsing a $6,100 check from a mortgage company that was made out jointly to the property owner and Windows and...
Monday, June 26, 2006
Woman Arrested in Georgia ID Theft and Mortgage Fraud
 Lauramae Gabbidon, a licensed real estate broker, was arrested by the Gwinnett County Financial Crimes Unit on June 21, 2006 and charged with Mortgage Fraud and Identity Theft.
Gabbidon used identity information belonging to a resident of Sparks, Nevada to purchase a residential property in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Gabbidon sold her own home...
Friday, June 23, 2006
Loan Processor Indicted for Accepting Bribes to Approve False Loan Applications
Marcus Wiseman, 35, Bethesda, Maryland, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on ten counts of Conspiracy, Wire Fraud, and Accepting Bribes by an Employee of a Financial Institution. According to Indictment presented to the Court, Wiseman, while employed at two different financial institutions, processed and approved...
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Multiple Settlement Statement Allegations Underlie Mississsippi License Suspension
On June 20, 2006, Mid-South Mortgage & Investments, Inc. d/b/a Freedom Lending of Meridian, Mississippi through its president, David Hand, entered into a Consent Order with the Mississippi Department of Banking and Consumer Finance, with regard to alleged violations of the Mississippi Mortgage Consumer Protection Law. In accordance with the...
ID Theft Admits to Using Stolen IDs to Obtain Loans
Eric Bronche Thomas, 42, Gardena, California pleaded guilty to computer intrusion, use of a false identity document and misuse of a social security number. Thomas is the third member of an identity theft ring that used personal information fraudulently obtained from Experian and other companies to apply for fraudulent loans. Two other members of...
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Indictment in Ohio Down Payment Investment Scheme
Larry Corna, 50, Columbus, Ohio was indicted by a Franklin County, Ohio Grand Jury on eleven counts of theft, forgery and passing bad checks in connection with allegations he defrauded three investors out of thousands of dollars. Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro and investigators from the Columbus Mortgage Fraud Task Force said Corna convinced...
Flipping Scheme Nets Maryland Man Fifteen Months in Federal Pen
Waldo Eli Alicea, 45, Fredericksburg, Maryland was sentenced to 15 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release and was ordered to pay restitution of $191,984 for conspiring to commit mail fraud and bank fraud in connection with his involvement in a real estate fraud scheme involving property flipping. According to the statement of...
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Georgia Broker’s License Revoked for Misrepresentations
On June 16, 2006, the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance’s decision to revoke the mortgage broker’s license of Universal Holdings Associates, LLC, license number 13849, formerly located at 102 Oglethorpe Professional Court, Suite 9, Savannah, Georgia 31406, became final. This notice of intent to revoke license was issued by the Department...
Georgia Real Estate Agent Arrested in Diversion of Commissions
Vivian Min, 39, Suwanee, Georgia was arrested and charged with two felony counts of Theft by Taking. Min worked as a real estate agent for Bob Wood Realty from 2001- 2004. Min went to several closings for properties located in Gwinnett County, Georgia and received a commission check for the sale of the properties. The check was supposed to be...
Monday, June 19, 2006
Monday Morning - Lite
Columbia Business School produced a video on the New Federal Reserve Chairman. There’s no downside to a little levity on Monday morning. http://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/everybreath/ The opinions expressed in the video are not necessarily the opinions of this author 
Arizona Escrow Agent License Revoked
First Financial Title Agency of Arizona and its president, Tom Paschen, were fined $20,000.00 and $10,000.00, respectively, for knowing violations of the laws regulating escrow agents in Arizona. First Financial’s license was revoked because of its violations of statutes regulating escrow agents and because of its unsafe financial condition. In...
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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 
