Two brothers accused of bilking a Castalia man out of $30,000 face felony charges of grand theft following a grand jury indictment in August, court records show.
Daniel Keegan, 45, of Castalia, and David Keegan, 47, of Sandusky, could face up to 18 months in jail after a Castalia man said he entered into an agreement to purchase real estate at 7349 E. Ohio 101 only to find out the brothers did not own the land and allegedly were not making mortgage payments to the bank.
A former Augusta-area businesswoman was fairly tried and sentenced to more than 23 years in prison for a massive fraud based on a phony mortgage rescue operation, an appeals court has declared.
In a six-page opinion released Wednesday, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Regina Preetorius’ convictions for mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
Brendan Bolger, 41, Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced to two years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit bank, wire, and mail fraud in connection with a Condo Conversion Scheme. The Court also entered a forfeiture money judgment in the amount of $13,641,197.90, which represents the fraud perpetrated on the mortgage lenders. Bolger pleaded guilty on August 20, 2014.
According to court documents, in 2005, entities controlled by co-conspirators entered into a contract to purchase The Arbors, an apartment complex in Hillsborough County, Florida. The new owners of The Arbors then engaged in a plan to convert the complex from rental apartments to condominiums. The developers financed their purchase of The Arbors with a loan from Corus Bank, a financial institution whose deposits were insured by the FDIC. The Corus loan agreement set forth substantial financial penalties for the developers if they failed to satisfy the loan requirements. Continue Reading…
A New York man charged in a $20 million telemarketing scheme that involved Detroit homes has been extradited from Spain, federal officials announced Friday.
Erez Arsoni is among 16 people accused in federal court of luring 290 victims in 46 states and Canada into a fraudulent investment operation focused on low-cost Detroit real estate.
Arsoni left the country before charges were issued in September 2014.
Ralph Leyva pleaded no contest to three counts of grand theft and one count of burglary. The defendant, who had no previous criminal history, received the maximum prison sentence and was ordered to pay full restitution to the victims.
Prosecutors said Leyva solicited money from two victims under the false pretenses that he was selling them bulk foreclosed properties owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at a 30 percent discounted price. The victims believed that the sales were being facilitated by California R.E.O. Services, LLC, which Leyva operated out of a Fresno address.
Porn studio Malibu Media files a lot of copyright lawsuits—more than any other entity in the US. In all, the company has filed more than 4,300 lawsuits since 2009, according to a report by Lex Machina. Malibu relies on a network of attorneys in several states to sue thousands of Internet users for downloading Malibu’s pornographic movies.
Now, one of the main figures behind the litigation, attorney Paul Nicoletti, is in trouble with the law. This summer, Nicoletti was indicted on four charges of bank fraud, stemming from real estate deals he did back in 2005. The charges were unsealed three weeks ago and published on Saturday by the blog Fight Copyright Trolls.
Randy Gard Teall, 67, Post Falls, Idaho, pleaded guilty to bank fraud. Teall was indicted by a federal grand jury in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho on June 17, 2014.
According to the plea agreement, Teall admitted he was a loan officer at Global Credit Union, a federally insured financial institution in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. With the intent to defraud, Teall executed a scheme to procure loans from Global Credit Union using false promises or statements on loans he approved to individuals with whom he had a business relationship. Teall failed to disclose his personal and business relationship and the borrowers’ true financial worth. Some of Global’s loan funds were used to pay rent to Teall.
The charge of bank fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to five years of supervised release.
Sentencing is set for December 15, 2015, before Senior U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge at the federal courthouse in Coeur d’Alene.
The indictment was announced by U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson.The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
David W. Griffin, 44, Lutz, Florida, pleaded guilty to one count of bankruptcy fraud and one count of making a false statement under oath during a bankruptcy proceeding in connection with a foreclosure rescue scheme. Griffin faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in federal prison for each charge. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to court documents, Griffin operated a foreclosure rescue scheme through his companies, Bay2Bay Area Holding, LLC and Business Development Consultants, LLC. The purpose of the scheme was to obtain quitclaim or warranty deeds from distressed homeowners facing foreclosure in return for false promises to rescue their homes from foreclosure by negotiating with creditors, renting the property back to the homeowner to obtain rental income, and falsely promising that the homeowner could repurchase the property from Griffin. To maximize his rental income, Griffin also prevented creditors and guarantors, including the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”) and the Federal Housing Administration, from pursuing lawful foreclosure and eviction actions against homeowners who had defaulted on their mortgages. This was accomplished by filing, or causing to be filed, fraudulent bankruptcies in the names of the homeowners without their knowledge or consent. Continue Reading…
Ped Abghari, a/k/a “Ted Allen,” 38, Irvine, California, and Justin Romano, 41, of Blue Point, New York, pled guilty for their roles in orchestrating a massive mortgage modification scheme that collectively defrauded over 8,000 homeowners out of over $18.5 million. Abghari and Romano each pled guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and Abghari also pled guilty to misprision of a felony. Romano pled on September 14, 2015, and Abghari pled on September 15, 2015, before U.S. District Judge. John F. Keenan. Continue Reading…
Steven Barry Ruza, 52, Orchard Lake, Michigan and his company, Home Legal Group, Inc., pled guilty to one count of Conducting a Criminal Enterprise. Ruza and his company were accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Michigan residents that were facing mortgage foreclosures. As part of the plea, restitution will be paid to the victims, with the possibility of additional restitution at the judge’s determination.
Ruza and his company promised victims that they could obtain mortgage modifications and save their homes from foreclosure but then did nothing, or very little, to obtain mortgage modifications for the victims. In many cases, Ruza even filed false documents with the bank. The victims never received a modification through Ruza and Home Legal Group and most lost their homes to foreclosure. Continue Reading…