Michael E. Earwood, 61, Madison, Mississippi, an attorney, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 46 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for bankruptcy fraud.
Gloria Nereida Valle-Clas, 48, and Alexander Gonzalez, 40, Loxahatchee, Florida, have been indicted on charges that they used aliases to acquire real estate while continuing to receive government benefits.
David Burrus, Jr., 40, Burns, Tennessee, was sentenced to 66 months in prison, followed by a five-year term of supervised release, for conspiring to commit wire and mail fraud. Burrus was also ordered to pay restitution of $241,779.26.
Richard Scott Spady, 40, Bloomington, Minnesota, was sentenced for his role in defrauding financial institutions and homeowners under the guise of a program to rescue homes from foreclosure.
James Cockinos, 58, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., a former mortgage broker and bank officer, has been sentenced to one year and a day in prison for defrauding Washington Mutual Bank (later acquired by JPMorgan Chase) in New York, for the purpose of securing a $1.48 million residential loan.
Horacio Lomeli, a 12-year veteran Department of Public Safety Officer, and his wife, Carmen Lomeli, have been convicted by a jury on charges of conspiracy, money laundering, and theft related to Mrs. Lomeli’s embezzlement of over $175,000 from her employer Sierra Seed, LLP, based in Nogales, Arizona. Mrs. Lomeli also was convicted of mortgage fraud.
Andrew Michael Phalen, 26, Mission Viejo, California, Jacob John Cunningham, 26, and John D. Silva, 28, both from Irvine, California, Justin Dennis Koelle, 23, Costa Mesa, California, and Dominic Adam Nolan, 32, Irvine, were sentenced for defrauding hundreds of victims in a real estate scam that included fraudulently collecting upfront fees for loan modification services and sending fake letters with the CitiFinancial or CitiMortgage logos offering home loan modification assistance. Victim losses are estimated to be in excess of $130,000.
Teresa Giudice, 41, and her husband, Giuseppe “Joe” Giudice, 43, both of Towaco, N.J., two stars of the Bravo television show “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” were charged in a conspiracy to defraud lenders and illegally obtain mortgages and other loans as well as allegedly hiding assets and income during a bankruptcy case,
James Scalzo, 46, Kenosha, Wisconsin, was sentenced by Judge Lynn Adelman to 35 months in prison for his role in a bank fraud and money laundering scheme.
Michael Pinkney, 43, Cordova, Tennessee, and Alan R. Price, 50, Olive Branch, Missouri, were each sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,283,728.53 in restitution for their roles in a foreclosed real estate flipping scheme.