Wednesday, December 24, 2008
8 Charged in Bank Fraud Scheme
Bienvenido “Benny” Benach, Jr., Ramon Puentes, Danny Flores, Rolando Alfonso, Jorge Nobrega, Jorge Arrieta, Sebastian Kishinevsky, and Adriana Cruz, have been charged in a 5 count indictment for a bank fraud scheme that resulted in the approval and disbursement of two home equity loans, totaling approximately $1 million. As alleged in the indictment, the scheme was directed at Bank of America and Wachovia. The defendants have been charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1349, 1344 and 1028A. All of the defendants have made their initial appearances before a Magistrate Judge and the case will be set for trial by the District Court Judge presiding over the matter.
According to the indictment, Benach, Puentes, Flores and Alfonso decided to submit simultaneous applications for fraudulent home equity lines of credit (“HELOCs”) to Bank of America and Wachovia for the total amount of $1 million, requesting $500,000 from each bank. Each HELOC application listed Benach’s mother-in-law as the purported borrower, and a home owned by Benach’s mother-in-law as the collateral. To prepare and process the HELOC applications, Benach’s mother-in-law’s name and social security number were used without her knowledge, input or authority.
Flores and Alfonso submitted the fraudulent Bank of America HELOC application to Arrieta, a personal banker at Bank of America, and gave the fraudulent Wachovia HELOC application to Kishinevsky, a financial specialist at Wachovia. For a fee, each bank insider agreed to process the fraudulent HELOC. At the time of the submission of the fraudulent HELOC applications, neither bank was made aware of the other pending HELOC application. After the HELOC at each bank was funded and the funds were made available, the defendants disbursed and shared the fraudulently obtained loan proceeds, receiving in total approximately $800,000.
mortgage fraud
Michael Tavoliero, Catherine Pinch is Catherin Margolin, Cerise Sanders adds up to dwb.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/story/9525981p-9436772c.html—need I say more
Posted by on 12/28 at 04:51 PM
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Trial coverage provided by Anne Mitchell, Crazy Fish Realty.
F. Jeffrey Miller Update - October 20, 2009
A hearing was held in Topeka, Kansas in front of Judge Julie Robinson. Miller is currently being held pending his sentencing which is set for December 22nd, 2009 at 9:00 a.m.. Steve Vanatta and Hallie Irvin, Miller's codefendants, will be sentenced at that time also.
Several motions were heard this week. One was a motion for Miller to be released pending his sentencing. Miller's attorney, Jeff Morris, argued that the court had dismmissed with predjudice the matter involving Miller's purchase of a commercial lawnmower, violating the court ordered monitoring agreement. He also argued that Miller was not a flight risk and should be released. This motion was denied.
Another motion heard by Judge Robinson was that of an escrow account containing proceeds from the sale of Miller's forfeited assets. This account has a balance of $143,000. Attorney Morris argued that his firm was due $100,000 for work done in the Miller matter, to date. The government argued that his 'un-itemized fees' were 'exhorbitant'. The balance of the funds, Morris argued, should be released to the Miller family to help pay for mounting household expenses.
The government argued that the 'Asset Forfeiture Provision' applies down to 'the last penny' and that 'the rights of the victims to made whole are of paramount immportance' and that no routine household expenses like Visa bills, are allowed.
Attorney Morris argues that there is more than enough assets to satisfy the jury's judgement of $2.65 million dollars. The government argues that the estimated value of his assets are only $1.4 million.
The government also stated that Miller has been paid dividends from a company Miller has an ownership interest in; Boreflex. From July, 2008 to present, Miller has been paid $330,509.30 from Boreflex, unbeknownst to the court appointed monitor.
Present in the courtroom was Todd Earnshaw. Earnshaw was indicted along with Miller and others in what is commonly referred to as 'Miller I'. That trial is scheduled to begin on January 11, 2010 in Topeka, Kansas.
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