Thursday, December 20, 2007

Long Beach Mtg Loan Coordinator Pleads Guilty

John Ngo, 27, Dublin, California, pled guilty to lying under oath before a federal Grand Jury in connection with an on-going mortgage fraud investigation. 

According to Assistant United States Attorneys Benjamin B. Wagner and Courtney J. Linn, who are prosecuting the case, from approximately September 2001 through May 2006, Ngo worked as a Senior Loan Coordinator at Long Beach Mortgage, a subprime lender of residential real property that is now an operational subsidiary of Washington Mutual, F.A. In his capacity as Senior Loan Coordinator, Ngo was responsible for, among other things, validating and verifying loan application information (including employment information) submitted by or on behalf of home loan applicants. 

In September 2007, Ngo testified under oath before a Grand Jury investigating a wide-ranging mortgage fraud scheme in the San Joaquin County, California area.  He was asked whether a particular mortgage broker who referred loan applications to Long Beach Mortgage during the time that Ngo worked there had given Ngo any money.  Ngo falsely testified that the broker had not given him any money.  In fact, records subsequently obtained from Bank of America show that between July 2003 and March 2007, defendant Ngo received approximately $100,000 in checks and bank transfers from accounts controlled by the mortgage broker.  Ngo admitted that most of the payments he received from the broker were payments made for ensuring that fraudulent loan applications referred to by the mortgage broker’s firm were processed and funded. 

As part of his plea, Ngo also admitted that he also received payments from certain Long Beach Mortgage sales representatives in order to push loan applications through the funding process.  He further admitted that he knew that many of these loan applications were fraudulent, and that he and others took steps to “fix” the loan applications by creating false documents or adding false information to the applications or the loan file.  As part of his plea agreement, defendant Ngo has agreed to cooperate with the government’s ongoing investigation and prosecution of mortgage fraud involving residential home loans in the area of San Joaquin County. 

Sentencing is set for April 7, 2008 at 8:30 a.m. before US District Court Judge William B. Shubb. 

mortgage fraud

1. Does anybody realize the magnitude of the fraud at Long Beach Mortgage? I do. John Ngo was just doing what he was trained to do/told to do. He is a small fish in a big pond.

   Internal employees were not bribed, but trained to only work for bribes, to extort money from salespeople who needed/wanted their work done. Those who did not pay, were shunned/ignored/were not given priority.

   His activites and lies are just the tip of the iceburg. I left this company, the Dublin office, a top producer.

   When crimes at Long Beach were reported, cover-ups, conspiracies and blackballing resulted/investigations squelched.

   I really hope more Long Beach people are prosecuted.

   Posted by  on  01/26  at  11:19 AM

2. I had a judgment filled against a party in 2004. In 2006 the party tried to purchase a property and could not because i was not going to settle for nothing but the judgment to be paid. one month later the party bought the house for 730k, with 145k down, 65k in cash not sure who was paid and the loan amount was for 530k. my question is, this property is in foreclosure as at 5/08. i should be the first lean holder since this judgment was filed prior to the person obtaining this loan and secondly how did washington mutual / chicargo tilte insurance approve this loan with a 55k judgment at the time?? right now the judgment value is 130k.

   nb: it is loans like this that got the market in a mess. i need answers as soon as possible.

   case#FCS filed May 2004

   Posted by  on  06/30  at  09:20 AM

3. John Ngo is a good guy and I dont think he deserves to go to jail.  He will be missed and welcomed back to the mortgage industry upon his release.

   Posted by  on  07/22  at  07:43 PM