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Texan Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Mortgage Lenders

Firooz Deljavan, 56, former owner and operator of Austin Realtors Network, Inc., faces five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to participating in a fraud and money laundering scheme that defrauded federally insured financial institutions and mortgage lenders of more than $15 million.

Appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Austin, Deljavan pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

From March 27, 2001 to January 23, 2004, Deljavan and others instituted a real estate flip-for-profit scheme where various properties in Central Texas were bought at or near market value, then sold thereafter to normally unqualified buyers at an artificially inflated price. By doing so, Deljavan and others collected large sums of cash while fraudulently inducing lenders into funding the real estate loans based upon materially false statements, representations and promises provided by the defendants. Deljavan and others knowingly placed the lenders at risk of financial loss for funding unqualified or untruthful borrowers, thus jeopardizing the lender’s financial investment in an overvalued real estate asset.

Prior to May 2004, Deljavan and his wife, Rosemary Rios, fled the United States to avoid prosecution. Deljavan and Rios were arrested in Turkey on November 17, 2004, where they remained incarcerated until they were extradited to the United States late last year.

Rios, 52, who faces up to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty in July to one count of making false statements to obtain a real estate loan, is scheduled for sentencing at 9:00am on September 26, 2007 before United States District Judge Lee Yeakel. Sentencing for Deljavan has yet to be scheduled.

19 other individuals have been convicted and sentenced for their roles in this scheme. Two remain fugitives.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigations, U.S. Postal Inspectors and the Department of Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Assistant United States Attorney Gerald C. Carruth is prosecuting the case for the government.

1. I totally agree that the condo market in big cities like Miami is in for atleast a few years of mayhem.  What really gets my goat, though is real estate investment scams like Foreclosuresdaily.com that charge thousands and promise people can make millions from their homes part time without ever having to look at or see the properrties or without any experience.  Here is a great article on this scam and full of great tips and links of where to go to get your money back if you get taken.  It is a absolute must read for anyone in real estate investing!:

   M. Wlak

   Posted by  on  08/31  at  06:37 PM

2. Great article as well asinformative too.this article provides very important information on Real Estate.

   Posted by  on  09/03  at  12:25 AM

3. One can only wonder how proficiently money laundering is used in these mortgage and real estate scams.  When you consider all elements, $15 million is chump change, when compared to drug runners, high corporate theft, and terrorist dollar volume.

   I suppose the lower levels, though, logically, would make it easier to wash the funds.

   Posted by  on  09/03  at  11:56 AM

4. AND HOUSTON TX. FBI AND D.A."S OFICE TAKE NO ACTION ON INFORMATION PROVIDED BY A CITIZEN ABOUT A FLIP SCAM AND FALSE APPRAISALS THAT HAVE DESTROYED A T/H SUBDIVISION.

   Posted by  on  09/05  at  03:39 AM

5. Could anyone tell me who to lodge a complaint with, with regards to Mortgage Companies / Banks???
   We, in my family are in a relationship with Wells Fargo Bank and due to that,got mortgages with their mortgage division. In the news, it would lead one to believe that Congress wants mortgage lenders to
   co-operate with borrowers and not incite more foreclosures.
   Wells Fargo will not stay out of the tax and insurance business, neither which they can get straight or do in an honest reasonable fashion. They turn down and refuse to accept a one month payment if a borrower is one day past thirty days!!  How in the Hell can a blue collar worker come up with two payments when he is having trouble getting one together???
   I could go on for hours!! They act worse than Household Finance did before they got slapped back in the nineties!!

   I am willing and able to make an intelligent complaint about their ethics, over apprasing, collection tactics etc etc and I simply need direction and the name of a governing entity.
   Nancy Bidwell
   Aquilla Texas

   Posted by  on  09/09  at  03:48 AM

6. I wonder if anyone has had the same problem I had when I tried to sell my house last year.

   I made the sale, moved into a condo and signed a lease for a year.  Closing had a discrepence in the Mortgage.  A second mortgage by a different company was to be paid off at the closing approx. 18k.  But when the title company did a search on the mortgage the company that held the second mortgage had filed several additional mortgages on my house without my knowledge, the selling price was 210K but the total mortgages by the second mortgage company was nearly a million dollars.  It took several months to get the company to remove the the fradulant mortgages from the records.  The sale failed, the Title company would not insure the property.  I had to do a Chap 13 in order to forstall a foreclosure and move back to the house.  It cost me several thousand dollars my credit rating and now cannot sell the house with a title insurance gurantee.......Help....What do you do in a situation like this.....?

   Posted by  on  06/12  at  03:02 PM

7. Can anybody point me in the right direction on who to lodge a complaint with re Countrywide Home Loans approving several bad loans in a fraudulent case pending in Atlanta. According to FBI, current listings range between $2,000 and $28,000. Inflated loans were between $135,000 and $155,000.

   Posted by  on  07/14  at  09:34 AM

8. A California mortgage defrauded me of $3450. They told me that they could turn my 2 mortgages into one mortgage. That was over 2 months ago. Instead of returning my money they are restructuring my loan. I TOLD THEM no way. They against my wishes proceeded. IN FACT they had some success. And they even bragged aboutit They even knew that my loan was sold. I demanded my money and they think they can keep my money for doing nothing. I put a request with my bank about what they have done to me!
   i KNOW THAT THEY have contacted them. The boss man said to me “ I am keeping that money” The company is B M P Company
   located in California.
   My bank is Wachovia. Can they keep my money legally?
   If you can help I would be grateful.Then they offered kme 10% back.They have no right to do this to me.

   Posted by  on  11/03  at  10:50 AM

9. Dear Ms. Dollar.  I live in Detroit, Michigan. I contacted Second Chance Financial about helping me to get my mortgage lower.  They charged me $1500.00.  The problem is they said they were presenting a package to Acorn, a free non profit organization that does it free.  Acorn, has only heard that Second Chance Financial was a scam.  Acorn is working on my mortgage presenting it to Chase Manhattan, and Second Chance Financial does not contact me period.  They kept my $1500.00, and has not taken care of anything for me.  How can I get my money back, or who can help me. 

   Shirley Gates

   Posted by  on  01/23  at  07:26 PM