Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Texas Man Convicted Of Mortgage Fraud

Craig Curtis, 36, was convicted by a jury of mortgage fraud and engaging in identity theft in connection with the mortgage fraud scheme.

After a five-day trial and less than three hours of deliberation, a federal jury reached its verdicts finding Curtis guilty on all counts submitted including one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three substantive counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft. As previously reported by Mortgage Fraud Blog, Curtis‘ indictment was included in Operation Malicious Mortgage.

Curtis came to the attention of the Auto Theft Unit of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office during 2007 when it was discovered he had used someone else’s Social Security number in an application for a loan to purchase an Aston Martin. Bank records then revealed that during 2006 and the first half of 2007 Curtis was obtaining large third-party disbursements from the sales of numerous townhomes located near the intersection of Westheimer and Montrose, Houston Texas. At trial, the evidence showed Curtis paid straw buyers to purchase townhomes at prices that were hundreds of thousands of dollars above the market price of the properties. To obtain the loans for the purchase of these properties, false information was submitted to lenders concerning the income and assets of the buyers and their intent to occupy the residences and pay the mortgage. In two of the loan applications, the straw buyers listed Social Security numbers belonging to minors. These numbers, as well as a fraudulent Social Security card listing the numbers, were obtained from Carlin Joubert, a women who operated a supposed credit repair business and who has pleaded guilty in this case to conspiring to produce false identification documents and aggravated identity theft. At the closings of these properties, Curtis typically received disbursements in excess of $100,000 which accounted for much of the inflated purchase price. Out of those funds Curtis would pay his recruiters and straw buyers. The loan amounts exceeded $5 million and Curtis received more than $1 million from the sales discussed during the trial. Most of the townhomes went into foreclosure within a year of the sales.

A number of Curtis’ other co-conspirators have pleaded guilty in this case, including Tiffany Narcisse and Kelton Lyons, two of the mortgage brokers involved in the scheme; Dedrick Johnson and Trevor Cherry, two recruiters; Viktor Thai Ly, who obtained false employment verifications; Michael Nunnerly, an appraiser; and Chi Van Nguyen, a straw buyer. Curtis has been and will remain in federal custody pending his sentencing scheduled for Feb. 27, 2009. He faces punishment of up to five years on the conspiracy conviction and up to 20 years on each of the wire fraud convictions. In addition, Curtis faces mandatory two-year sentence on the aggravated identity theft convictions - the first of which must run consecutive to any other sentences imposed. On all counts, Curtis faces a fine of up to $250,000. The government has already obtained a judgment forfeiting to the United States a Maserati and Breitling which Curtis purchased with proceeds of his mortgage fraud scheme.

This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and the Auto Theft Unit of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Gregg Costa and Ryan McConnell.

mortgage fraud