Monday, May 12, 2008
Husband And Wife Convicted For Real Estate Fraud
Patricia Omondi, 39, and her husband Boureima Sanfo, 47, both of Woodbridge, Virginia, were convicted by a federal jury on eight counts of interstate transportation of property obtained by fraud, three counts of money laundering and one count of obstruction of justice in connection with a scheme to defraud residential lot buyers.
As previously reported by Mortgage Fraud Blog and according to testimony presented during the three week trial, Omondi was the president of Raycha Homes, also known as Construction Consulting and Management (CCM), a home builder located on Old Bridge Road, Woodbridge, Virginia. Sanfo was a loan officer for CCM. From November 2004 to December 2005, the defendants met with individuals and promised to build homes for them on the lots of their choice. They drove individuals to view several parcels of land in Prince George’s County, Maryland to select the lot, provided copies of design drawings of homes, provided fictitious letters on the letterhead of a mortgage company falsely representing that the individuals had been pre-approved for mortgages and falsely stated that CCM had obtained permits to begin construction of their houses.
The evidence showed that Omondi and Sanfo caused individuals to enter into contracts with CCM for the construction and purchase of a house and to make regular payments towards the down payment. However, no homes were ever constructed, nor were any lots purchased. Under this scheme, Omondi and Sanfo obtained more than $200,000 from at least seven victims, which they deposited in their bank account in Virginia.
According to trial testimony, in October 2006, the defendants obstructed a grand jury investigation into whether the defendants were committing fraud in connection with their home building operations by providing the grand jury with studies that had purportedly been done in 2005 regarding the feasibility of constructing houses on lots selected by purchasers, when in fact the feasibility studies were completed in September 2006.
The defendants face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine for each of the 12 counts. U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow has scheduled sentencing for both on September 5, 2008 at 9:30 a.m.
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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.
More Trial Coverage
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Rachel Dollar, the editor of Mortgage Fraud Blog, is an attorney and Certified Mortgage Banker who handles litigation for lending institutions and secondary market investors. She is an author and a nationally recognized speaker on the topic of mortgage fraud. Ms. Dollar is a shareholder with the law firm of 
