Mortgage Fraud Blog is the premier website for news and information on mortgage fraud and real estate fraud throughout the United States.
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 Smith Dollar, PC, is licensed to practice law in California and maintains offices in Santa Rosa, California. Email Ms. Dollar
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Three New Jersey residents were indicted on June 14, 2005 in connection with a $30 Million mortgage fraud scheme where straw buyers purchased multi-million dollar homes in Bergen County, New Jersey and obtained loans based on inflated appraisals and falsified financial documents. An attorney, mortgage broker, appraisal “consultant” and several straw borrowers have already plead guilty in connection with the scheme.
Those indicted were:
Jamila Davis aka Jamila Baker, 27, Teaneck, New Jersey
Arisma Theodore, 37, Teaneck, New Jersey
Brenda Rickard, 52, Montclair, New Jersey
Brenda Rickard, the alleged mastermind of the fraud scheme, was arrested yesterday at her home in New Jersey. According to an article on NorthJersey.com:
Her day began before sunrise Wednesday, when police and federal agents brought an arrest warrant to Rickard’s Oxford Street home.
Rickard, who was at home with her 12-year-old son, refused to answer the door, and the officers saw through a window that she was carrying a kitchen knife, Drewniak [Michael Drewniak, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office] said. Using a battering ram, they broke down the door and arrested Rickard, he said.
“They were concerned for the safety of the defendant and the 12-year-old boy in the house,” Drewniak said.
Davis owned and controlled Diamond Star Financial (Leonia and Fort Lee, New Jersey) which purported to provide assistance to individuals seeking to invest in real estate. Davis’ responsibilities in the scheme included identifying individuals willing to pose as straw buyers, establishing relationships with other industry professionals, identifying and negotiating for purchases of property, preparing fraudulent sales constructs, loan applications and false financial documents, causing submission of false documents to lenders and directing distribution of proceeds.
Rickard owned or controlled, M.S. Financial Services, Inc. (Montclair and Verona, New Jersey) which purported to manage and oversee real estate investment transactions. Rickard’s responsibilities included preparing fraudulent documents for closings on parcels of real property, managing the property after purchase and distributing loan proceeds.
Theodore was an accountant and tax preparer who prepared letters falsely representing that she was the accountant for straw buyers and that the straw buyers were wealthy business owners with substantial income.
According to the indictment, between February and October 2002, Davis, Nicholas Infantino and Shaheer Williams recruited straw buyers to act as purchasers of the properties in exchange for a fee. Davis would enter into purchase contracts with property sellers, in the names of the straw buyers. Another sales contract was also prepared without the authorization of the property sellers that reflected inflated sales prices. While the actual sales prices of the properties were between $1.1 and 3.8 million dollars, the second contracts reflected sales prices of between $2.05 and $5.9 million dollars. (Unlike many schemes, most of the properties were located in affluent neighborhoods.)
Infantino would submit fraudulent loan applications to lenders including at times false W-2 forms, accountant letters stating they were successful business owners (in fact two of the borrowers for whom these letters were submitted were actually bartenders), fraudulent bank statements reflecting inflated balances (actual balances overdrawn to $65,000 – bank statements reflected balances from $795,000 to 2.7 Million). Williams caused real estate appraisals to be obtained that supported the inflated property values.
The loans were approved based on the falsified information and funds were wired to the trust account of attorney Daniel Ellis. Rickard and Ellis prepared and submitted closing and mortgage loan documents knowing the mortgages were obtained based on false and fraudulent information. Loans were obtained on the properties for both first and second lien positions. Approximately $10M in ‘profits’ from the scheme were distributed to the participants.
Davis and Rickard made mortgage payments on the loan in order to avoid discovery but eventually they were unable to sustain the payments.
The conspirators not named in this indictment were:
Daniel Ellis was indicted and plead guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud on December 15, 2004. Ellis was a New Jersey attorney employed by Rickard at M.S. Financial and was responsible for preparing false and fraudulent closing documents, conducting real estate closings and acting as settlement agent.
Nick Infantino was indicted and plead guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and tax evasion on January 31, 2005. Infantino was a mortgage broker and was responsible for identifying nominee buyers, obtaining basic identifying and financial information, causing the preparation of fraudulent loan applications in the names of the nominee buyers and submitting the applications to lenders.
Shaheer Williams was indicted and plead guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and tax evasion on April 27, 2005. Williams owned and controlled the operations of New Life Investments (East Orange, New Jersey). New Life Investments purported to purchase, refurbish and resell homes. Williams would identify nominee buyers, obtain inflated appraisals on the subject properties and manage construction on the properties after purchase.
Nominee buyers agreed, in exchange for a fee, to serve as purchasers of real property. The nominee (straw) buyers were:
James Campbell aka Thomas Goldson (plead guilty on February 24, 2004 to conspiracy)
Brian Togneri (plead guilty on February 11, 2004 to conspiracy)
Brandi Mohammed (plead guilty on February 25, 2004 to conspiracy)
Anel Mendez (plead guilty on February 10, 2004 to conspiracy)
Carl DiMasi
The properties were located at:
15 Schaffer Road, Alpine, New Jersey
497 Piermont Road, Cresskill, New Jersey
66 Chestnut Ridge Road, Saddle River, New Jersey
21 Christopher Place, Saddle River, New Jersey
71 Woodcliff Lake Road, Saddle River, New Jersey
133 Chestnut Ridge Road, Saddle River, New Jersey
Additional properties against which mortgages were obtained were:
7 Cassandra Drive, Alpine, New Jersey – Loans for $2.97M and $600,000
21 Schaffer Road, Alpine, New Jersey – Loans for $2.925M, $885,000 and $2.925M
I WAS ALSO FRAUDED BY MR. WILLIAMS. IN 2003 I WAS WORKING WITH HIM ON PURCHASING 3 PROPERTIES IN NEW JERSEY. I GAVE HIM A CHECK FOR $80,000. SINCE THEN I NEVER GOT ANY PROPERTIES, AND NEVER RECIEVED ANY MONEY FROM HIM. I HAVE NO CONTACT INFORMATION FROM HIM. CAN SOMEONE HELP ME? HOW14
Posted by on 11/13 at 02:14 PM
Shaheer williams is currently incarcerated in a Federal Prison in NY.
Failed Mortgage Firm Trustee Allowed $50,000 in Fees Union Leader
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge J. Michael Deasy will approve $50,000 in legal fees for the trustee of failed mortgage brokerage businesses Financial Resources Mortgage Inc. and CL&M Inc.
Bend Oregon Event to Help Homeowners Prevent Foreclosures Oregon.Gov
As part of an ongoing effort to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, state agencies are organizing a foreclosure-prevention event in Bend on Saturday, March 27, 2010.
Shelbyville Man Gets 2-Year Sentence For Loan Fraud Chattanoogan.Com
Prosecutor Gary Humble said the lost was approximately $2.3 million in the mortgage fraud involving hundreds of homes in the Shelbyville area.
Lend America, VP Ashley Banned from FHA Housing Wire
Michael Ashley, the embattled former vice president of Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed mortgage originator Lend America, and the company he worked for, were permanently banned from doing business in the industry last week.
Countrywide Tries to Pin Blame on Insurer Court House News
Countrywide Home Loans demands $111 million from Triad Guaranty Insurance, claiming Triad is trying to blame mortgage lenders for the insurer's role in the housing bubble and collapse.
Investors Say They Were Swindled in Property Scheme Fox 13 Now
Utah Division of Consumer Protection is joining forces with a few investors who claim they have been cheated by an agency called "Utah Mini Ranches.
Greenfield Man Accused of Housing Scam The Republic
A former real estate agent conned at least eight people by renting them properties actually owned by a federal agency and then running off with their deposits, prosecutors said.
Appraisal Institute Opposes Obama Administration's Plan for Homeowner 'Short Sales' PR News Wire
Citing concerns about increased mortgage fraud, four organizations representing more than 35,000 real estate appraisers today voiced their opposition to changes to an Obama administration program that will encourage "short sales" of homes.
Ownership Rights to Get Another Look TBO.Com
State lawmakers may beef up protections of property owners' rights by rewriting a law this spring that is at the center of a case of alleged fraud in Pasco County.
Thursday, February 18, 2010 F. Jeffrey Miller Trial Continued Testimony
As reported by Anne Mitchell, who viewed the trial:
Angela Parenza worked for Jeff Miller as the office manager for 7 or 8 years beginning in 1998. Parenza was indicted along with Miller and pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering. Parenza testified that Miller or his contractors allegedly preferred to build all the...
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 F. Jeffrey Miller Trial Coverage Continued - Witness Testimony
Steve Middleton Testimony - Coverage Provided by Anne Mitchell
The Government continued in its cross examination of Steve Middleton. He was shown several HUD-1 statements involving sales of homes located in Overland Park, KS, and Olathe, KS. The HUD statements each allegedly showed line items of payments to (James) Moser & Associates, LLC's...
Monday, February 01, 2010 F. Jeffrey Miller Trial Coverage - Continued Witness Examination
According to Anne Mitchell, who is present in court for the trial:
Next Witness: Kelly Sanford
Kelly Sanford of the Federal Reserve was a short witness for the Government. Sanford manages electronic payments between banks and member financial institutions. He was shown copies of wire transfers and asked whether they coincided with the counts in...
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 F. Jeffrey Miller Trial - Prosecution Witnesses Continued
According to Anne Mitchell, who is viewing the trial:
January 13, 2010
Witness: Rick Hayes
Rick Hayes testified that on the day that he closed on his Miller Enterprise home, he received a phone call from the Kansas Banking Commission informing him that his loan was fraudulent. After the Hayes responded to a classified ad, they met with John...
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The information and notices contained on Mortgage Fraud Blog are intended to summarize recent developments in mortgage fraud cases and mortgage banking matters nationwide. The posts on this site are presented as general research and information and are expressly not intended, and should not be regarded, as legal advice. Much of the information on this site concerns allegations made in civil lawsuits and in criminal indictments. All persons are presumed innocent until convicted of a crime. Readers who have particular questions about mortgage banking, mortgage fraud matters or who believe they require legal counsel should seek the advice of an attorney. The creators, editors and sponsors of Mortgage Fraud Blog do not intend to create a confidential relationship or an attorney-client relationship by communication via or arising from this site.
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 
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