Ajay Thuraisingham, 27, Ontario, Canada, and co-defendant Christopher Duharte, 36, Coconut Creek, Florida, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra to 54 months in prison, and to 30 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in operating boiler rooms that collected advance fees from distressed homeowners purportedly in exchange for obtaining loan modifications for the homeowners which were, with few exceptions, never provided.
Mark Edward Shelton, 45, Las Vegas, Nevada, was indicted by a Clark County Grand Jury for loan fraud on June 24, 2014.
Rhonda Scott, 52, Oxon Hill, Maryland, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar to 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with two separate mortgage fraud schemes which resulted in losses of over $2.5 million. Niesha Williams, 34, Fort Washington, Maryland, was sentenced to 27 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with one of the mortgage fraud schemes.
Deon Derrick Derrico, 43, North Las Vegas, Nevada, and Olujuwon Devin Bryant, 23, North Las Vegas, were charged with multiple felony counts for their involvement in a fraudulent title scheme wherein they allegedly forged quitclaim deeds for the purposes of collecting rent from unsuspecting tenants.
Steven Jones, 46, Charlotte, North Carolina, was convicted after a three-day trial of racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud scheme to defraud investors and money laundering conspiracy. His conviction is the latest in Operation Wax House, an investigation which began in 2007 and has netted 91 defendants to date, 86 of which have pleaded guilty or been convicted following a trial.
Michael W. Yancey, 55, Olathe, Kansas, pleaded guilty to conspiring to make false statements on a loan application while he was working as a senior vice president of a bank in Overland Park, Kansas.
Gari-Mark Thomas, 38, formerly of Norwalk, Connecticut, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant to 12 months and one day of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiring to defraud the Federal Housing Authority through a mortgage fraud scheme.
Christopher Shawn Linton, 35, Alabaster, Alabama, was sentenced to five years and 11 months in prison for his role in an investment fraud scheme through which he submitted a fraudulent loan application to Iberia Bank for a $908,650 loan, and took more than $2.8 million from 12 investors spending the funds on a lavish home, private jets, championship football trips and island vacations.
Thomas W. Dickson, 53, Boulder, Colorado, has been sentenced for stealing over $300,000 from his law firm’s clients. The defendant was retained by Tenants in Common and after encouraging them to deposit rental proceeds into his trust account, he transferred the funds to his persona checking account
A six-count indictment was unsealed in federal court charging six people with bank and wire fraud concerning their alleged participation in a scheme to defraud lenders using fraudulent loan applications, falsified HUD-1 Settlement Statements and inflated appraisals.