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 Rachel 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
Mortgage Fraud Blog is co-sponsored by Interthinx the leading provider of fraud services and solutions for the mortgage industry.
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Monday, September 09, 2002
Former Attorney Sentenced for Theft
Nassau County District Attorney Denis Dillon announced today that a former attorney has been sentenced to 2 ˝ - 7 ˝ years in prison and almost $1 million in restitution for a series of thefts from clients – including more than three-quarters-of-a-million dollars stolen from a mortgage banker who had retained him to act as the settlement agent in the refinancing of a private mortgage transaction.
Douglas Hoffman, 51, formerly of Dix Hills, New York had pled guilty on May 15 to Grand Larceny in the Second Degree. He admitted to stealing approximately $756,000 from United National Mortgage, and also to thefts from four other clients totaling more than $170,000.
According to Dillon,v “In April of 2000, Hoffman, whose law practice was located in Westbury, was retained as closing attorney for United National Mortgage LLC (UNM) in a refinancing of a mortgage on real property in Sag Harbor. On May 9, 2000, UNM wired $766,670.21 into Hoffman’s ‘Escrow 1 Account’ at HSBC Bank USA to cover the costs and expenses of the refinance. The primary expenditure was for satisfaction of the existing mortgage held by Amerifirst Financial in the approximate amount of $756,000.
”Hoffman, however, rather than using these funds for their intended purpose, misappropriated them to pay off shortages he incurred in other, unrelated real estate transactions. In effect, he was engaged in a ‘kiting’ scheme, using funds wired into his account by one mortgage lender for a particular transaction to cover a pre-existing shortage from another transaction with a different lender.”
Hoffman was suspended from the practice of law in August 2000, and subsequently resigned from the Bar. The other thefts he admitted to were:
the theft of $111,028.54 from Accredited Home Lenders, Inc., where he similarly received funds while acting as the settlement agent in a real estate transaction, and misused the funds to cover other shortfalls;
the theft of $50,000 that he was supposed to hold in escrow as down payment in the sale of a commercial business;
the thefts of $5,000 from one individual and $4,000 from another individual in separate cases also involving real estate transactions.
As part of his sentence today, Nassau County Court Judge Ira Wexner ordered Hoffman to pay a total of $926,910.54 in restitution. The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Marshall Trager of the Bureau for Special Investigations.
 mortgage fraud
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Key findings from the MARI Quarterly Fraud Report include that fraud most often occurs at the beginning of the loan process. More than 65 percent of fraud incidents are attributed to "General Application Misrepresentation"
Seven Are Accused Of Identity Theft And Mortage Fraud
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Seven people have been arrested in connection with an international identity-theft scheme that targeted home equity lines of credit and siphoned at least $2.5 million away from dozens of banks, including more than 10 in New Jersey, according to documents unsealed today.
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Trial coverage provided by Anne Mitchell, Crazy Fish Realty.
U.S. v. Miller, et al.
Thursday, December, 18, 2008
Verdict:
F. Jeffrey Miller Guilty of Conspiracy and Money Laundering
Steven Vanatta Guilty of Conspiracy , Money Laundering and Bank Fraud
Hallie Irvin Guilty of Conspiracy , Money Laundering and Bank Fraud
Sandra Jo Harris Not guilty- all counts
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