Monday, October 26, 2009
Mortgage Broker Sentenced In Scheme To Defraud Lenders
Sidney Okosun, 41, a Nigerian national residing in Washington, D.C., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. to 18 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for bank fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders. Judge Williams also ordered Okosun to pay restitution of $2,165,191. Okosun was formerly licensed as a mortgage originator by the State of Maryland.
According to Okosun's plea agreement, Okosun, a loan officer employed at a mortgage-broker business, conspired with others to purchase properties from a company owned by co-defendant Oladipo Olafunmiloye. Conspirators sought mortgages and refinance loans in order to purchase the properties without having to identify Olafunmiloye's ownership interest in the properties. To that end, the defendants recruited individuals to act as purchasers of the target properties, when in fact, these "straw buyers" owned these properties in name only and made almost none of the payments related to the purchase of the target properties. Olafunmiloye was responsible for making all payments associated with the purchase of the properties, including the down payments, closing costs and mortgage payments. Once the purchase of the properties had been funded, Olafunmiloye caused the straw buyers to default on their mortgage payments. As a result, the lenders were forced to foreclose on those properties and incur losses.
Okosun acted as a mortgage broker. He coordinated the submission of fraudulent loan applications and other documents to lenders and brokered the resulting fraudulent loans. He received a commission for each fraudulent transaction he brokered, including $33,000 for nine transactions he brokered from November, 2005 to September, 2006. The estimated loss to mortgage lenders that resulted from the nine transactions currently totals $2,165,191.
Oladipo Olafunmiloye, 40, of Gambrills, Maryland, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 46 months in prison for bank fraud and money laundering in connection with the scheme, and was ordered to pay $3 million in restitution. Oyekunle Ikudayisi, 41, White Plains, Maryland, was sentenced to 6 months in prison and 6 months home detention with electronic monitoring and ordered to pay restitution of $812,438 for conspiring to make a false statement in connection with the scheme. Kolawole Aminu, 46, a Nigerian national, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and was sentenced to 3 years probation and ordered to pay $161,064 in restitution.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein announced the sentencing and thanked the U.S. Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorneys Robert K. Hur and James A. Crowell IV, who prosecuted the case.
mortgage fraud
This is where the problems start. Hangen High.
Posted by on 10/28 at 03:38 AM
Why on God’s green earth would the state of Maryland issue a broker license to a Nigerian national? I’m sure the state was not able to affirmatively establish this tool’s prior criminal record in his home country of Nigeria. If the state of Maryland will hold an American accountable for prior crimes in their home country, they should do the same for Nigerian applicants. If they are not able to search Nigerian criminal records, then Nigerians should not be eligible for a broker’s license.
Posted by on 10/29 at 12:08 PM
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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 
