Monday, November 14, 2005
Jury Convicts Defendants in Texas Mortgage Fraud
A federal jury in the Northern District of Texas convicted defendants Tam Nguyen, Xuyen Nguyen, and Myna Tran on all counts charged in a mortgage fraud indictment following a two-week jury trial. The scheme operated in the Dallas, Texas area.
The jury convicted Tam Nguyen on one count of conspiracy, 12 counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, and three counts of money laundering. He faces a statutory maximum of 105 years in prison, coupled with restitution and a fine of up to $4,500,000.
Xuyen Nguyen, convicted on one count of conspiracy, seven counts of wire fraud, and two counts of mail fraud, faces a statutory maximum of 50 years imprisonment, restitution, and a fine of up to $2,500,000.
The jury convicted Myna Tran (who was allegedly employed as a mortgage broker for Ultima Real Estate Services, Dallas, Texas) on one count of conspiracy, five counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, and two counts of money laundering. She faces a statutory maximum of 55 years imprisonment, restitution, and a fine of up to $2,750,000.
The evidence presented by the United States at trial established defendants Myan Tran, Xuyen Nguyen, and Tam Nguyens involvement in a scheme to defraud Countrywide Home Loans resulting in millions of dollars of losses to Countrywide based on fraudulent mortgage loan applications and appraisals for residential home purchases in this area. Four other defendants were also charged in the indictment filed in this case on May 25, 2005, all of which pled guilty before trial. Those defendants were:
Sean Cung-Kim Nguyen aka Sean Cung Nguyen who was allegedly employed as a mortgage broker for Century Mortgage, Arlington, Texas, plead guilty to one count of conspiracy and three counts of wire fraud and aiding and abetting.
Dai Quoc Nguyen who was allegedly employed as a sales representative for Re/Max, Richardson, Texas and a loan officer for United Capital Mortgage, Inc., Garland, Texas entered a plea agreement, supported by factual basis, on October 5, 2005 to one count of conspiracy and three counts of wire fraud and aiding and abetting.
Hong Thanh Duong plead guilty to one count of conspiracy on October 19, 2005.
Cuc Kim Tran plead guilty to one count of misprison of felony on October 19, 2005.
As part of the conspiracy, Sean Nguyen needed straw buyers who were willing to sign loan applications for Countrywide, while not intending to move into the homes or even make any mortgage payments. These straw buyers were recruited by Xuyen Nguyen and Tam Nguyen. Tam Nguyen is Xuyen Nguyens son. They would recruit Vietnamese and Korean straw borrowers, from the State of Washington, who had excellent credit scores and were willing to sign off on these bogus applications to be submitted to Countrywide. As to the individual transactions involving these different co-conspirators, the FBI was able to trace a trail of money from Countrywide to the Title Company to individual accounts held by Dai Nguyen, Myna Tran, or Tam Nguyen. Each time this happened, the recipients of the stolen money would launder the funds by obtaining cash and buying a number of cashiers checks designed to funnel money to Sean Nguyen and the other co-conspirators.
Overall, the co-conspirators worked together to steal money from Countrywide on a number of real estate transactions. Overall, more than 18 different houses were targeted in the scheme, but the trial focused on the following houses, with the names of the co-conspirators who were involved and the amount of loss to Countrywide as a result of the fraud:
2304 Spenrock Ct., Lewisville, Texas Sean Nguyen, Dai Nguyen, and Tam Nguyen; Amount of loss - $245,690.19
7605 Constitution, Plano, Texas Sean Nguyen, Dai Nguyen, and Tam Nguyen; Amount of loss - $243,640.18
421 Ivan Drive, Lewisville, Texas Sean Nguyen, Dai Nguyen, Tam Nguyen, Xuyen Nguyen, and Hong Duong; Amount of Loss $252,989.10
4010 Ridgecrest Trial, Carrollton, Texas Sean Nguyen, Dai Nguyen, Tam Nguyen, Xuyen Nguyen, and Cuc Tran; Amount of Loss $205,782.36
6319 Fox Hunt Drive, Arlington, Texas Sean Nguyen and Myna Tran; Amount of Loss $307,009.27
6727 Silvercrest Drive, Arlington, Texas Sean Nguyen, Myna Tran, Tam Nguyen, and Xuyen Nguyen; Amount of Loss $188,915.47
All of these transactions had the same unique fingerprint for the crime all Countrywide loans, all houses have fraudulent appraisals doubling the fair market value of the houses, all have straw borrowers recruited usually from Seattle, Washington, who were flown in by Xuyen Nguyen to sign the fraudulent paperwork, and all have a flurry of money laundering cashier check activity after the transaction is closed where the money is funneled to various participants.
Additional properties included in the indictment were:
3349 Stoneway Drive, Grand Prairie, Texas
2727 Rolling Hills Lane, Grand Prairie, Texas
1901 Walnut Hill Drive, Rowlett, Texas
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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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 
