imageRachel Dollar is an attorney and Certified Mortgage Banker who handles fraud recovery litigation for lenders and secondary market investors nationwide. She is a nationally recognized speaker on the topic of mortgage fraud. Ms. Dollar is licensed to practice law in California and maintains offices in Santa Rosa, California. Email Ms. Dollar

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Recent Posts

- Mortgage Fraud Scheme Leads to 83 Count Indictment
- Beazer Homes Settles Accusations of Mortgage and Accounting Fraud
- Closing Agent Indicted for Misappropriating Funds
- Falsified Loan Apps Lead to Criminal Charges
- 4 Indicted For Using Stolen Identities to Obtain Loans
- New Jersey Man Indicted for Mortgage Loan Misreps
- Florida Man Sentenced for Role in $30 Million Mortgage Fraud Scheme
- Ohio Man Charged in Straw Borrower Scam
- Loan Mod Company Ordered to Cease & Desist
- Former Mortgage Broker Pleads Guilty in $1.6 Million Mortgage Fraud Scheme

Thursday, March 30, 2006

First Sentences in $20 Million Missouri Mortgage Fraud

A former mortgage broker and a former real estate appraiser were sentenced in Missouri federal court in separate but related cases involving a property flipping scheme and mortgage fraud. Their fraud was part of a larger scheme that involved nearly 300 fraudulent loans worth almost $20 million.

Avonda Nicodemus, 33, Kansas City, Missouri, a former account executive at Ameriquest Mortgage in Gladstone, Missouri was sentenced to five years of probation, including four months of electronic monitoring, and ordered to pay $1,158,501 in restitution. Under the terms of probation, Nicodemus may not work as a loan broker or in the mortgage business.

Peggy Snodgrass, 40, Independence, Missouri, who operated a real estate appraisal business in Raytown, Missouri, was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $1,149,188 in restitution.

Nicodemus and Snodgrass are the first defendants sentenced in the mortgage fraud scheme in which six defendants have pleaded guilty. The largest mortgage fraud case ever prosecuted in the Western District of Missouri, the scheme encompassed 289 fraudulent loans totaling $19.6 million, with a total actual loss of approximately $11.8 million for the financial institutions that were defrauded.

Brent Michael Barber, 41, of Belton, Missouri, pleaded guilty on February 23, 2006, to 104 counts contained in two federal indictments. Those indictments, as well as a third federal indictment for which Barber was convicted by a jury, involve separate schemes to defraud mortgage lending companies of millions of dollars.

Barber admitted that he recruited people to purchase rental properties, assuring them that he would find renters for the properties and sell the properties a short time later, so that the victim-investors would have no financial risk and a guaranteed quick profit. Then he provided false information on the loan documents and arranged for inflated appraisals in order to receive approval for the loans. Many of the buyers would not have qualified for the loans if true information had been given to the lenders.

During the first conspiracy, from May through October 1999, Barber was a client of Ameriquest Mortgage. During that period, he conspired with co-defendants Nicodemus, Roderick Neil Criss, 34, Kansas City, Missouri, who was the branch manager, and Cauncey Calvert, 35, Kansas City, Missouri, who was an account executive, to defraud Ameriquest.

As a result of that conspiracy, Ameriquest Mortgage approved 66 fraudulent loans totaling $4 million.

Snodgrass pleaded guilty on February 17, 2005, to her role in that mortgage fraud conspiracy.  Snodgrass admitted that she provided artificially inflated appraisals on properties for which Barber was seeking mortgage loans from Ameriquest, Countrywide Home Loans and Hamilton Mortgage. In return, she received fees and other benefits.

Between June 9, 1999, and November 1, 2000, in response to requests from co-conspirators, Snodgrass prepared 75 false and fraudulent appraisals, inflating the values of the properties, misrepresenting the work she had done to prepare the appraisals, and at times misrepresenting the condition of the properties.  For example, Snodgrass prepared and submitted a fraudulent appraisal for property at 29 E. 32 St., Kansas City, Missouri, for $73,000 in response to a request from a co-conspirator.  Snodgrass stated that she personally inspected the property and that it was in good to average condition with no observable external depreciation. In reality, the house had failed city codes inspections and was on track for demolition based on findings that the building was dangerous and a nuisance, that the foundation and siding were cracked, and that the frame, guard rail, roof, gutters, porch, soffit, and fascia were damaged, decayed, or deteriorated.

   

Posted by Rachel Dollar on 03/30/06 at 05:15 AM
Mortgage FraudMissouri • Total comments: (0)

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Today's News

Some Sources require Registration.

 

Erie Area Mortgage Broker Gets Prison in Fraud Case
GoErie.com - Erie, PA
Shortly before receiving a nearly three-year federal prison sentence, former mortgage office manager Francis R. Conti told the judge he never meant to defraud any of the homeowners caught up in a widespread local mortgage-fraud scheme.

Three Former Portland-Area Mortgage Brokers Face Fraud Charges
OregonLive.com - Portland, OR
Joel D. Surprenant, Michael Duc Han and Benjamin Lucian Lucescu all were charged with one count of obtaining mortgage loans through materially false and fraudulent pretenses.

Shaker Pair Pleads Guilty to Mortgage Fraud Charges
Cleveland.com - Cleveland, OH
Two Shaker Heights residents recently pleaded guilty to charges involving a mortgage scheme with seven area houses and $3 million in fraudulent loans.

Feds File Charges in Five Mortgage Fraud Cases
Chicago Breaking News - Tribune - Chicago, IL
Federal charges were filed today against 37 people and four companies in five separate mortgage fraud cases.

Feds Fighting Back
Contra Costa Times - Walnut Creek, CA
Mortgage fraud has increased so dramatically in the San Joaquin Valley that a task force of federal, state and local agencies has been formed to fight back.

Private Investigator Sees Rise in Mortgage Fraud Due to Economy
PR Web - Ferndale, WA
In the past 12 months his firm has been retained to conduct over 300 mortgage fraud investigations, a 100% increase from 2007.

Former UGA, NFL Football Player Arthur Marshall Charged With Mortgage Fraud Claims
WJBF-TV - Augusta, GA
He is also accused of defrauding three banks in obtaining loans for seven different properties in Columbia and Richmond Counties.

Cuomo Subpoenas Loan Modification Companies
New York Times - United States
“The entire industry is a scam, in my opinion,” Mr. Cuomo said Tuesday. “These are services that homeowners don’t need to pay for in the first place.”

Defendant Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud Relating to Mortgage Fraud Scheme
Imperial Valley News - Holtville, CA
Scavitti admitted that between 2003 and August 2008 he unlawfully diverted mortgage funds that were wire transferred into his client office account to his own personal benefit, resulting in losses in excess of $2.5 million.

Fed Drug Report: Double Trouble for Metro Chicago
ABC7Chicago.com - IL
...Chicago street gang members run a network of legitimate businesses and have engineered mortgage fraud schemes, both to launder drug proceeds...

Previous Articles

TRIAL COVERAGE

Trial coverage provided by Anne Mitchell, Crazy Fish Realty.

Update - US v. F. Jeffrey Miller, et al.

Miller II: Judge Julie Robinson has ruled in favor of the defense motion granting a continuance for sentencing of the 3 convicted defendants: F. Jeffrey Miller, Steve Vanatta and Hallie Irvin. The three will now be sentenced after ruling on post trial motions set for August 10, 2009.

Vanatta has been in custody for over 2 years.  Vanetta filed a motion for his release pending sentencing. That motion was denied.

Miller remains free pending his sentencing. He has hired a new attorney who filed a motion to delay Miller's sentencing. In one post trial motion, the defense argues as to what assets are subject to seizure.

Defendant Todd Earnshaw is a Kansas City real estate Broker (and brother in law of Miller). Earnshaw has been indicted in what is commonly referred to as Miller I. A trial date for that matter has been set for January, 2010 in Topeka, Kansas.

The Government filed a motion to revoke Earnshaw's bond and remand him to custody while he awaits trial after learning that he allegedly committed the state crimes of Driving Under the Influence, Handicap Parking Violation and Failure to Control Speed to Avoid a Collision while on pretrial release. Notwithstanding finding that probable cause existed to believe that Earnshaw committed the aforementioned state crimes, Judge Robinson denied the motion, but ordered several strict conditions that Earnshaw must follow pending his trial.



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Legal Disclaimer.
The information and notices contained on Mortgage Fraud Blog are intended to summarize recent developments in mortgage fraud cases and mortgage banking matters nationwide. The posts on this site are presented as general research and information and are expressly not intended, and should not be regarded, as legal advice. Much of the information on this site concerns allegations made in civil lawsuits and in criminal indictments. All persons are presumed innocent until convicted of a crime. Readers who have particular questions about mortgage banking, mortgage fraud matters or who believe they require legal counsel should seek the advice of an attorney. The creators, editors and sponsors of Mortgage Fraud Blog do not intend to create a confidential relationship or an attorney-client relationship by communication via or arising from this site.

Real Estate Blog Top Sites Blog Flux Directory Blog Directory & Search engine Blog Directory
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