Thursday, September 27, 2007

Vermont Woman Pleads Guilty to Fraudulent Transfer

Laura Zipprich, 40, Bennington, Vermont, appeared in United States District Court and pleaded guilty to Wire Fraud in connection with a fraudulent real estate transfer. Sentencing has been set for December 12, 2007. 

According to the indictment and other court documents, in September, 2004, Zipprich used a fraudulently obtained Power of Attorney in order to transfer property and execute a $135,000 mortgage on a Winhall, Vermont home that Zipprich had owned. The property and mortgage were transferred to an unsuspecting victim, making the victim responsible for the mortgage. After the closing, the mortgage company wired approximately $133,000 into an account at a Bennington, Vermont bank. Zipprich was then given more than $54,000 in proceeds from the fraudulent transfer.

In December, 2004, the victim was contacted by Discover Card and learned that an application for a credit card had been submitted using the internet. Because the victim already had a Discover credit card and because the address did not match that of the victim, the credit card company became concerned about the possibility of identity theft. When the victim learned of this attempted fraud, she checked her credit and learned of the outstanding mortgage on the Winhall, Vermont property.

Zipprich faces a sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine. The actual sentence will be imposed after a presentence investigation is completed and the Court has considered the United States Sentencing Guidelines and other sentencing factors.

mortgage fraud

1. Tricked out of home deed, couple say

   Lawsuit says scammers preyed on their distress

   By Craig S. Semon TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
   

   AUBURN— An Auburn couple have sued several people — including one who tried to flee the country with $1.3 million and has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in an unrelated case — of swindling them out of the title to their home.

   Auburn Fire Lt. Francis X. Hartnett, 35, and Kim M. Carville, 34, have been together for 12 years. They have two boys, ages 15 and 11, and have lived at 19 Inwood Road for eight years. Last month, Mr. Hartnett and Ms. Carville say, they found out they lost title to their house two years ago.

   Mr. Hartnett and Ms. Carville contend the title was stolen by Stuart Brown, Trisha Graham and Allen J. Seymour, who was arrested Feb. 8 in Florida trying to flee the country on a private jet with $1.3 million hidden in his luggage. 

   On July 22, Mr. Seymour pleaded guilty to wire fraud and interstate transportation of property stolen or taken by fraud. He recently was named by Assistant Attorney General Andrew Doherty as the mastermind behind an alleged mortgage fraud scheme in an investigation involving as many as 60 properties in Worcester County.

   Mr. Hartnett and Ms. Carville said they had fallen behind in their mortgage payments to Ameriquest Mortgage Co. because of illness. The $156,000 mortgage, which they had gotten in December 2003, was scheduled for a foreclosure sale in early November 2005.

   A few days before the scheduled sale, their lawyer, Margaret M. Melican, said, Mr. Seymour came knocking on their door and offered to help.

   “He came at the 11th hour,” Mr. Hartnett added. “We were in desperate times and, at the time, he looked like a savior.”

   He said that in the next few days, Mr. Seymour returned to the couple’s home twice — first with lawyer Robert F. Creasia and later with Ms. Graham, who was introduced to them as an “investor.”

   During the first return visit, Mr. Hartnett and Ms. Carville insist they signed only one paper, which they say they were told was the second page of an authorization to check the couple’s credit.

   “The front page was to give them permission to check our credit, which I thought I was signing. When I signed it, there was nothing else written on the second (page) except two lines to sign on, one for me and one for him (Mr. Hartnett),” Ms. Carville said. “They took the top page off and put a different top page on and added the notary public stuff underneath it.”

   A search of the records at the Worcester Registry of Deeds shows that a deed, dated Nov. 15, 2005, conveyed the property from Mr. Hartnett and Ms. Carville to Mr. Brown. The deed, which was recorded Dec. 20, 2005, is notarized by Judith Ann Lebeau.

   Ms. Melican said the top page was switched and the notary public added sometime between Nov. 3 and Dec. 20, 2005.

   On Dec. 19, 2005, Mr. Brown signed two mortgages to World Savings Bank, and a $156,000 mortgage to Ameriquest was subsequently discharged. One of the new mortgages was for a negative amortization loan that eventually could have a principal balance of $276,562.50, which was 125 percent of the amount borrowed. The other mortgage was for $44,250. The mortgages were recorded Dec. 20, 2005, immediately after the recording of the deed to Mr. Brown.

   The notary public on the new mortgages was Mr. Creasia, who has a law office at 3 Fayette St., Milford. He said he was “the closing agent who simply represented the bank.”

   Ms. Melican said Mr. Hartnett and Ms. Carville started making payments to Ms. Graham and thought the money was going toward their mortgage.

   “Herbert J. Seymour III is listed as a defendant in the case. He is Allen Seymour’s nephew and it was his name on the business card that Allen Seymour originally gave to the couple.

   On July 24, Superior Court Judge Peter W. Agnes Jr. granted restraining orders against Wachovia Bank, the present holder of the delinquent mortgage, from foreclosing, and against Ms. Graham and Mr. Brown from collecting rent, coming to the property and evicting the couple and their two boys from the premises.

   Posted by  on  08/17  at  03:56 AM