Straw Buyers and Advance Fee Schemes Net Guilty Plea

Rachel Dollar —  September 29, 2015 — Leave a comment

Tony Huy Havens, 42, Modesto, California, pleaded guilty mail fraud and wire fraud in advance fee and straw buyers mortgage fraud schemes.

According to court documents, in the first scheme Havens devised an “advance fee” scheme that targeted victims in at least eight states who were seeking multimillion dollar loans for large construction projects that were in danger of foreclosure. Havens provided the victims with fraudulent documents that showed a third-party lender was prepared to make a loan to the victim. On Havens’ instructions, the victims wired money into a bank account controlled by Havens to pay in advance certain costs associated with the loans. No loans were ever made. In total, Havens represented that he could arrange at least $1.1 billion in financing for at least 15 victim borrowers and collected at least $248,750 by wire transfers from them. Continue Reading…

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57 Month Sentence in Scheme to Defraud Financial Institutions

Rachel Dollar —  September 28, 2015 — Leave a comment

Ray M. Mubarak, 56, Knoxville, Tennessee, was sentenced to serve 57 months in prison for conducting a scheme to defraud financial institutions and engaging in an unlawful monetary transaction with fraudulently-obtained loan proceeds.  He was also ordered to pay $1,993,938.44 in restitution to three banks and a title insurance company that lost money as a result of the scheme.

Mubarak pleaded guilty in May 2015 to federal charges stemming from his scheme to defraud multiple banks into loaning him over $6 million. He submitted false tax returns and personal financial statements which grossly inflated his income and net worth in order to qualify for the loans. Mubarak also admitted to defrauding the banks by causing them to rely on a fraudulent title opinion letter and forged loan closing documents and deeds.

The trial for Mubarak’s co-defendants, Dianna Mubarak and Blythe Bond Sanders, III, is scheduled for March 1, 2016.

Marbarak was sentenced by the Honorable Pamela L. Reeves, U.S. District Judge.  The investigation was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The investigation and prosecution of Mubarak was coordinated with the Office of the District Attorney General, 6th Judicial District.  Matthew T. Morris, Assistant U.S. Attorney, represented the United States.

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Loan Officer Pleads Guilty and Appraiser Identity Theft Charged

Rachel Dollar —  September 25, 2015 — 3 Comments

Franchesco Franco, 34, a former mortgage loan originator, Providence, Rhode Island, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit bank fraud for his participation with a local real estate attorney and others in a scheme to defraud Flagstar Bank, by filing a fraudulent mortgage loan application and supporting documentation in the name of a person known to him who had recently died, in order to secure a loan in the amount of $157,102 for the purchase of a residence at 63 Wendell Street, Providence, Rhode Island.

According to court documents, after the mortgage was issued, Franco filed fraudulent documents in the deceased person’s name in order to have his own name added to the deed for the property. Loan payments were never made to Flagstar Bank, an FHA-insured lender, by Franco or anyone else. As a result, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) paid an insurance claim to Flagstar Bank for the unpaid balance of the loan in the amount of $165,062. According to court documents, a corporation formed by the real estate attorney, an alleged co-conspirator in this matter, later purchased the note for $35,000. Continue Reading…

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Eleven Year Sentence for Mortgage Fraud Orchestrator

Rachel Dollar —  September 25, 2015 — Leave a comment

Hector Hernandez, 57, Miami, Florida, the owner and operator of Great Country Mortgage Bankers (Great Country), a mortgage lender in Miami, Florida, was sentenced to serve 135 months in prison  for conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution for orchestrating a $64 million mortgage fraud scheme.  He was also ordered to pay $64,508,141 in restitution and to forfeit $8,000,000 in illicit profits.

In the same case, a real estate developer for Great Country, Aleida Fontao, 62, Miami, Florida, was sentenced to serve 41 months in prison, and ordered to pay $7,131,952 in restitution and $400,000 in forfeiture.  An underwriter for Great Country, Olga Hernandez, 59, Lake Mary, Florida, was sentenced to serve 51 months in prison and ordered to pay $24,512,755 in restitution.  Hector and Olga Hernandez both pleaded guilty on July 13, 2015, while Fontao pleaded guilty on July 7, 2015.  Hector Hernandez was the last defendant to be sentenced in the case.  All 24 defendants charged in this case, which included loan officers, loan processors and underwriters, were convicted of participating in the scheme. Continue Reading…

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Spiritual Help Through Mortgage Elimination Scheme?

Rachel Dollar —  September 25, 2015 — 1 Comment

John Michael DiChiara, 57, Nevada City, California; James C. Castle, 51, formerly of Santa Rosa, California; Remus A. Kirkpatrick, 58, formerly of Oceanside, California; George B. Larsen, 54, formerly of San Rafael, California; Laura Pezzi, 59, Roseville, California; Larry Todt, 63, formerly of Malibu, California; and Michael Romano, 68, Benicia, California, were charged by a federal grand jury in a 42-count indictment, with conspiracy, bank fraud, false making of documents, and money laundering in connection with a mortgage elimination scheme. Tisha Trites, 49, San Diego, California and Todd Smith, 44, San Diego, California, pleaded guilty to related charges before U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. on September 4, 2015.

DiChiara was arrested in Cool, California. Pezzi and Romano were arrested at their homes. The other four defendants listed in the indictment have yet to be arrested. Continue Reading…

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West Virginia Man Sentenced for Inflating Income on Loan Application

Rachel Dollar —  September 25, 2015 — 1 Comment

Steven A. Crites, 44, Martinsburg, West Virginia, was sentenced to one day in prison followed by one year of supervised release for making a false statement on a loan application.

Crites applied for a loan with Wells Fargo Bank and falsely indicated that his monthly income was $29,000. In fact, his monthly income was $2,833.33. He pled guilty in March 21015 to one count of “False Statement on Loan Application.”

United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced the sentence.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Camilletti prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Federal Bureau of Investigation led the inquiry.

Chief U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh presided.

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Guilty Plea in $30M Low-Income Housing Fraud

Rachel Dollar —  September 24, 2015 — Leave a comment

Matthew Greer, 37, former CEO of Carlisle Development Group, Miami Beach, pled guilty  before United States District Court Judge Ursula Ungaro to two counts of conspiracy to commit theft of government money, in connection with a scheme to steal government funds intended for the construction of low-income housing. Greer participated in a $30 million fraud scheme involving ten low-income housing developments

According to court documents, including the factual proffer in support of the defendant’s plea, Matthew Greer and Lloyd Boggio served, at alternating times, as CEO of Carlisle Development Group (CDG), a low-income housing developer in Miami, Florida. CDG applied for federal tax credits and federal grant monies to build low-income housing developments through a program administered by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC). To obtain these federal funds, FHFC required developers to submit proposed development costs, including a construction contract signed by the developer and contractor. Continue Reading…

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Hacker gets 9 years for ‘massive’ ID theft

For a time dubbed one of the San Diego FBI’s most wanted cyber fugitives, John Gordon Baden hid out in Tijuana, where he trafficked in the stolen identities of potential homeowners who applied for loans through a U.S. mortgage company.

By the time Mexican authorities arrested Baden in November 2014, U.S. investigators say his computer hack had given him access to more than a half-million loan documents containing names, social security numbers, addresses and email accounts.

 Posted by Rachel Dollar  onSeptember 24, 2015 In Mortgage Fraud on the web
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short sale scheme

Short Sale Rescue Fraud Scheme Indicted in Nevada

Rachel Dollar —  September 23, 2015 — 2 Comments

Christopher Nelson, 46, Henderson, Nevada, and Niket Kulkarni, 38, Los Angeles, California were indicted by the Clark County, Nevada, Grand Jury, along with Thomas J. Adams,  Robyn D. Reese, and James Sheridan Reese, in connection with a short sale rescue fraud scheme. The charges include racketeering, pattern of mortgage lending fraud, theft, theft from a person over the age of 60, and failure to place a mortgage fee of over $1,000 in escrow. The defendants operated their business, the American Equity Foundation, between July 2012 and May 2013.

According to the indictment, the defendants are accused of soliciting customers to participate in a short sale program purportedly associated with the federal government called the Neighborhood Stabilization Plan. Defendants falsely represented to their clients that their business could facilitate the short sales of customers’ homes to investors. Clients were also told that they could then lease their homes from the investors for two to four years, before having the opportunity to repurchase those homes at a cost of 90-100% of the home’s market value. Through these representations, the defendants are alleged to have unlawfully obtained more than $133,000 from their clients.

Continue Reading…

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2 sentenced in mortgage fraud scheme

A federal judge Tuesday sentenced two people to 30 months and 46 months in prison for their roles in a mortgage fraud scheme that involved seven properties in Honolulu and Kona.

Visiting U.S. District Senior Judge Charles R. Breyer sentenced Sakara Blackwell, the real estate broker formerly known as Dawn Sakaguchi, to the 30-month prison term. It was Blackwell who handled the sales of the properties that still had mortgages on them to buyers who were unaware of the mortgages.

 Posted by Rachel Dollar  onSeptember 23, 2015 In Mortgage Fraud on the web
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