Tuesday, September 04, 2007
California Man Indicted for Kickback Scheme
Renato Gonzales Quiazon, Hayward, California, was arrested on felony fraud charges arising from a loan kickback scheme. A federal grand jury indicted Quiazon with 11 counts of wire fraud, 12 counts of money laundering and four counts of filing false tax returns.
According to the indictment, Quiazon is alleged to have devised a scheme to fraudulently obtain payments of loan kickbacks, commissions and cash outs/extraneous line items from borrowers’ escrow accounts. Beginning about January 2000 through October 2004, the defendant was employed as a loan officer with New Century Mortgage, Emeryville, California. During this time, Quiazon entered into an agreement with an independent mortgage broker to use his name and broker’s license on loans that the defendant processed as the loan officer. By using the mortgage broker’s identity on these particular loans, New Century Mortgage issued a 1% commission (1% of the total loan amount) to the mortgage broker. As part of the agreement with the mortgage broker, the mortgage broker was to retain 20% of the commissions and pay Quiazon a kickback of 80% of the commissions.
In contrast to his arrangement with the mortgage broker, in about 2002, the defendant started to get the commission checks directly and forged the mortgage broker’s signature on the back and deposited the checks into his bank account.
Quiazon also filed false individual income tax returns for the tax years 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. The defendant deducted expenses that did not exist and failed to report the loan kickbacks and other payments that he received which totaled approximately $430,661 for the period under investigation.
The maximum statutory penalty for each count of wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, U.S.C. § 1343 is 20 years and a fine of $250,000. The maximum statutory penalty for each count of money laundering, in violation of Title 18, U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B)(i) is 20 years and a fine of $500,000, or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction.
The maximum statutory penalty for each count of filing a false return in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1) is three years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S.
Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
An indictment contains only allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Mr. Quiazon must be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
mortgage fraud
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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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