Thursday, July 27, 2006

Ten Indicted in Pennsylvania Mortgage Fraud

In Pennsylvania, ten individuals were charged in an 18-count indictment with a massive mortgage and identity fraud scheme.  The fraud involved nearly 180 properties in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the vast majority of which will fall into foreclosure. The government and private mortgage lenders are at risk of losing over $11,000,000 because of the fraud.

Accused in the recently unsealed indictment of participating in the scheme were: 

Vincent Sirolli, 64, Deptford, New Jersey

Mahn Huu “Bruce” Doan, 38, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Ciriaco Gatta, 43, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Anthony Giampietro, 52, Cherry Hill, New Jersey

Mary Diantonio, 49, Sicklerville, New Jersey

Dana Siciliano, 44, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

June Kodiak, 57, Bensalem, Pennsylvania

Keith Lyon, 43, Jackson, New Jersey

Trung Tam Dang, 36, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Zu-Yun “Andy” Kim, 27, Media, Pennsylvania

According to authorities, self-described real estate investor, Mahn Huu Doan, a/k/a “Bruce Doan,” hit on a scheme to try to make money. He and his associates would purchase houses using false or borrowed identities. Doan managed to buy these houses with government insured loans. With the help of Trung Tam Dang, Doan made up false paper work – including false bank records, false W-2 forms, and false pay stubs – which he used to apply for these mortgages. Most of the mortgages came from a company called Encore Mortgage Services, Inc., which was owned by Vincent Sirolli. Participating in and profiting from the fraud, Sirolli and his employees – Dana Siciliano, a loan officer; June Kodiak, a loan originator; and Keith Lyon, the company’s Chief Operating Officer – processed the applications and got Doan the money he needed. The scheme worked, in part, because Ciriaco Gatta, a/k/a “Jack Gatta,” an appraiser (C.A. Gatta & Associates, 2525 South Broad Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), fraudulently inflated the appraisals on the houses. Those fraudulent appraisals allowed Doan, Sirolli, and the others to wring excess profits from the deals, profits the schemers used to keep the fraud going and to line their own pockets. At the closings on the deals, settlement agents Mary Diantonio (Rittenhouse Abstract and First City Abstract Agency, Inc., 1429 Walnut Street, 6th Floor, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Anthony Giampietro (Rittenhouse Abstract, Inc., 2617 South 21st Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) prepared paperwork that falsely described the flow of money in the deals, thereby hiding the fraud from mortgage lenders and the government. Zu-Yun Kim, a/k/a “Andy Kim,” an associate of Doan’s, often posed as a buyer or seller at the closings, signing paper work using a false identity.

The defendants planned to hold on to the houses they purchased for a short time, and then re-sell or “flip” them for a profit. They were unable. Still, they had to pay the mortgages on the houses. They failed. As a result, nearly all of the houses will go into foreclosure.

“Foreclosures affect everyone in Philadelphia,” United States Attorney Pat Meehan stated. “A recent study by The Reinvestment Fund estimates that, for every foreclosure within a block of your house and within a year, your house will lose 1% of its value.” Meehan went on, “You can therefore imagine the impact that 180 foreclosures will have on our neighborhoods. If we are to keep our neighborhoods intact, we must stop the kind of fraud that happened here.”

If convicted the defendants face maximum possible sentences of:

Vincent Sirolli, 82 years imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and a $1,500,000 fine;

Bruce Doan, 42 years imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and a $1,000,000 fine;

Jack Gatta, 27 years imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and a $750,000 fine;

Anthony Giampietro, 82 years imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and a $1,500,000 fine;

Mary DiAntonio, 2 years imprisonment, 1 year of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine;

Dana Siciliano, 42 years imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and a $1,000,000 fine;

June Kodiak, 42 years imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and a $1,000,000 fine;

Keith Lyon, 42 years imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and a $1,000,000 fine;

Trung Tam Dang, 42 years imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and a $1,000,000 fine;

Andy Kim, 42 years imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and a $1,000,000 fine.

Properties in the indictment include:

2508 S.2nd Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

6356 Kingsessing Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1027 S.10th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

6831 Regent Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1118 S. Alder Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2312 Belgrade Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1215 S. 8th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1235 S. 8th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

5930 N. 4th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

6135 Reedland Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

634 Tasker Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

mortgage fraud

1. do you think these people will get time in prison

   Posted by  on  10/16  at  04:44 AM

2. I do not have a comment but I do have a question.  What happens to the Title Agencies that the settlement people worked for?  Do they or their owner(s) have any legal responsibility to fraudulent acts? I have read of repeated malpractice issues over the years and oftentimes the same agencies are involved.  Yet the owner(s) appear to walk away unscathed.  How can the same types of events occur more than once with the same agencies and yet the owner(s) know absolutely nothing?  I just find that so hard to believe.

   Thank you.

   Posted by  on  01/04  at  03:13 AM

3. Has this case come to a close.
   if so what was the verdict

   Posted by  on  04/01  at  08:14 AM

4. what was the sentencing for the kodiak and siciliano?

   Posted by  on  09/30  at  09:18 AM

5. Has this case gone to trial? What sentence did Mary Diantonio recieve? And when does it begin and end? Is this a Federal or State offense?

   Posted by  on  11/05  at  11:28 AM