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Three Defendants Plead Guilty in Alaska Flipping Scheme

Bekim Hasipi, 35, Anchorage, Alaska, Robin Dorman, 31, Anchorage, Alaska and Jan Marquiss, 59, Anchorage, Alaska, each pled guilty to one count of wire fraud for making false statements in mortgage loan applications.

Each defendant acted as a straw borrower, taking out loans in their names for the benefit of Azem Limani while falsely claiming that they were seeking a mortgage loan for the purchase of a primary residence.

They were indicted, along with Kourash Partow, Azem Limani, Dzevid Limani and Agim Delolli in connection with a mortgage scheme in Anchorage, Alaska that involved straw buyers, inflated property values and flipping of 11 properties, some multiple times. The total value of the 14 loans alleged in the indictment to have been fraudulently obtained is over $5 million. Prosecutors estimated that the defendants netted over $750,000 from the scheme.

According to the indictment, Azem Limani, owned or operated Alaska Super Pawn, LRD Investments, Limane Rentals and H and L Investments, and Hasipi, Dorman and Dzevid Limani worked for him in those businesses. According to the indictment, Limani, with the help of the other defendants, obtained financing for the purchase of residential real estate in Anchorage, Alaska by providing false and fraudulent statements and documents to lending institutions and by use of inflated income and straw borrowers and concealing the relationships of the defendants with one another.  They would then sell the properties either to each other through the use of fraudulently obtained loans or in some instances to third parties, retaining the profits for the benefit of Limani and the his conspirators.  Partow received commissions from the closing of the fraudulently obtained loans.

The indictment alleges the conspirators obtained loans from two banks and three mortgage companies, including at least 15 loans involving the purchase and/or refinancing of the following 14 separate properties:

1343 Chirikof Court, Anchorage, Alaska

4840 Leah Court, Anchorage, Alaska

11200 Briggs Ct, Anchorage, Alaska

2000 Hillcrest, Anchorage, Alaska

2683 Wesleyan Drive, Anchorage, Alaska

12387 Division Street, Anchorage, Alaska

12363 Division Street, Anchorage, Alaska

12371 Division Street, Anchorage, Alaska

1743 Minerva Way, Anchorage, Alaska

10541 Rezanof Circle, Anchorage, Alaska

6710 Reedyke Circle, Anchorage, Alaska

438 Pine Street, Anchorage, Alaska

127 W. 22nd Avenue, #503, Anchorage, Alaska

2675 Wesleyan Drive, Anchorage, Alaska

“Loan applications are legal documents signed under penalties of perjury,” said IRS Supervisory Special Agent Terry Zeznock. ”Though flipping properties is legal, submitting false written statements to a lender is not.”

Scheduling of a sentencing date is delayed, pending the outcome of the charges against the remaining defendants.  The maximum sentence for wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

A separate indictment was handed down against Kourash Partow in connection with an additional 14 properties where Partow “was alleged to have caused and attempted to cause Countrywide and American Home to issue mortgage loans” based upon stated income that was greater that the borrower’s real income or by adding the income of non-obligated third parties to the borrower’s income.

The property addresses identified in the indictment of Partow are:

2201 West 48th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska

15621 Stanwood Circle, Anchorage, Alaska

3423 Murphy Circle, Anchorage, Alaska

308 Davis Street, Anchorage, Alaska

10936 Elmore Road, Anchorage, Alaska

5431 O’Malley Road, Anchorage, Alaska

6673 Shangri-La Circle, Anchorage, Alaska

702 Deermont Street, Ketchikan, Alaska

6465 Whispering Loop, Units A and B, Anchorage, Alaska

9640 East Forest Grove Circle, Palmer, Alaska

705 West 27th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska

12324 Silver Spruce Circle, Anchorage, Alaska

4265 South Timberland Loop, Wasilla, Alaska

205 Dailey Avenue, Unit 1, Anchorage, Alaska

1. I am a LO and have been following the Alaska case.  My company does a fair amount of stated income loans.  I have not found any other cases of alleged fraud with this type of loan, other than the Alaska case.  Are there any other existing cases like this, and what are your thoughts on the Kourosh Partow/Limani case in Alaska?  Should LOs be concerned about utilizing the Stated Income Loan process?

   Posted by  on  04/18  at  12:13 PM

2. Yes, you need to be concerned about utilizing the “stated income loan process”. You as a LO are paid on those files; it is your name associated with those files. Therefore any misrepresentation in those files you might be held accountable for. If the information stated to you by the borrower does not make sense, then question it. If not, then you may end up like Partow one day.

   Posted by  on  05/01  at  12:09 PM

3. Is there ANY recourse for folks that fell victim to this fraud?

   Posted by  on  11/25  at  09:40 PM