Kathy Chen, 49, Westminster, California, a real estate broker, was sentenced to 68 years and six months in state prison for conspiring with her boyfriend and his brother to commit $17.5 million in real estate fraud by purchasing 35 properties using stolen identities and intentionally defaulting on loans in order to steal the loan money.
Chen was found guilty by a jury
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Barbara Lynnae Puro, 47, Savage, Minnesota, a real estate agent, was charged in the District of Minnesota by Information with participating in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme that victimized lenders across the country. Puro allegedly arranged for homeowners to sell their properties to straw buyers at inflated prices. In each case, she then purportedly
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Lynzi Malissa Richardson, 31, Glenn Dale, Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with making false statements to obtain three home mortgages within a three month period.
According to Richardson‘s plea agreement and court documents, between June and September 2007, Richardson, Melva
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John Jackson, 42, Hamden, Connecticut, was sentenced by United States District Judge Christopher F. Droney in Hartford to six months of home confinement and two years of probation for participating in a mortgage fraud scheme. Judge Droney also ordered Jackson to pay restitution in the amount of $100,000.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in
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Guillermo Ricardo De La Vara, 68, Phoenix, Arizona, has been sentenced in Maricopa County Superior Court to three-and-a-half years in prison on charges of theft and fraudulent schemes and artifices.
Over a two-year period from 2005 to 2007, De La Vara fraudulently obtained millions of dollars from investors by selling promissory notes and interests in deeds of trust, called
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Peter Bakowski, 59, Tampa, Florida, the mastermind behind a $20 million mortgage fraud related Ponzi scheme, was sentenced to 188 months (15 years, 8 months) in federal prison and ordered to pay $16.1 million in restitution.
According to court documents, Bakowski was a licensed mortgage broker at the time he perpetrated his scheme, misusing his credentials to sell the
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Robert R. Anderson, 59, Mt. Prospect, Illinois, was arrested on federal fraud charges for allegedly operating a “Ponzi” scheme in which he fraudulently obtained about $12 million from approximately 70 investors who were promised extraordinary returns from a purported real estate business. Anderson was charged with wire fraud in a criminal complaint that was unsealed after he
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Peter Bakowski, 59, Tampa, Florida, has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington to one hundred and eighty eight months (15 years 8 months) in federal prison for false statements related to a ponzi-type mortgage fraud scheme. He was also ordered to pay $16.1 million in restitution.
According to court documents, Bakowski was a Florida-licensed
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Michael James Burns, Jr., 51, San Francisco, California, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy to a term of 87 months in prison, a Special Assessment of $100, Restitution in the amount of $445,532.45, and Supervised Release for 3 years. Burns was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to wire fraud/money laundering.
In an
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Gerald L. Wolfe, 41, Corona del Mar, California, an attorney, has been indicted on charges related to a mortgage fraud scheme in which 30 homes were purchased at inflated prices, with the excess proceeds going to the lawyer and other members of the conspiracy. Wolfe, who was formerly also a registered real estate broker, was named in a one-count indictment by a federal
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