Monday, July 09, 2007
Minnesota Mortgage Broker Pleads Guilty to Mortgage Fraud Scheme
Ronald Clark Joseph, 49, Prior Lake, Minnesota, has been charged with two counts of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud, and one count of money laundering in connection to a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders out of millions of dollars. Joseph has agreed to plead guilty to the charges.
The indictment states that between 2004 and 2006, Joseph, a licensed mortgage broker who worked for LHS, Inc., devised and implemented his scheme. Specifically, Joseph caused fraudulent loan applications to be provided to potential lenders. The applications allegedly misrepresented the terms of the proposed transactions by, among other things, overstating property purchase prices. er a loan was approved, loan proceeds were provided to a title company. According to the indictment, Joseph then worked with a closing agent at the title company to disburse some of those proceeds in a manner contrary to the understanding of the lender. Specifically, payments from those proceeds were made to the property buyer and other third parties as well as to Joseph. In order to conceal the scheme, Joseph allegedly caused false settlement statements to be mailed to the lender.
The indictment states that Joseph participated in the fraud scheme as a property broker as well as a buyer and seller. Allegedly, Joseph and LHS, Inc., received substantial fees for arranging the fraudulent transactions. Moreover, the indictment states that on at least two occasions, the defendant personally purchased property and subsequently received nearly $200,000 in concealed payments. For the purpose of executing this scheme, Joseph also allegedly caused $369,329.56 to be wired from a mortgage account in New York to a title company account in Minnesota. The indictment states that through approximately forty separate real estate transactions in which Joseph was involved, about $2.5 million in concealed payments were made.
Finally, Joseph is alleged to have used proceeds from this fraud scheme, in the form of a check in the amount of $27,859.75, to purchase a Cadillac automobile in January of 2006. If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum potential penalty of twenty years in prison on each mail fraud and wire fraud charge. He faces a maximum potential penalty of ten years in prison for money laundering. Any sentence, however, will be determined by a judge.
mortgage fraud
Great blog. Good job informing the public.
Posted by on 07/09 at 10:02 AM
Wow, what a happy ending. I wish the gov’t or the commerce or whoever would catch my guy.
Right now I don’t feel like I have a happy ending like those consumers that their guy was caught.
Posted by on 07/13 at 12:31 AM
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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...
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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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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. 
