The lawyers defending former Eagles player Irving Fryar and his mother, Allene McGhee, against mortgage fraud charges rested their case in a Mount Holly courtroom Tuesday without calling any witnesses.
Fryar, 52, of Springfield Township, Burlington County, and McGhee, 74, a retired school bus driver from Willingboro, both decided against taking the stand to testify after the prosecution completed its case and the jury trial entered its third week. The two are charged with conspiracy and theft by deception in connection with a $1.2 million mortgage scheme involving six banks and one lending company in South Jersey and Philadelphia between October and December 2009.
Although the CPLR sets forth an applicable statute of limitations period for virtually all causes of action, and otherwise provides for a catch-all limitations period under CPLR 213(1) for claims that are not specifically delineated, the Court of Appeals has recently held that one particular, and not altogether uncommon, cause of action is not subject to any limitations period. In a remarkable 4-3 holding in Faison v. Lewis, the majority of the Court of Appeals held that a claim alleging forgery of a deed is not subject to any statute of limitations defense.
Brady Bunte, the former owner of an Orange County, California mortgage lending company, pleaded guilty to bank fraud in U.S. District Court in Louisville, Kentucky in a warehouse lending fraud. Bunte devised a scheme to defraud National City Bank of $12,744,678 of money under its control, by submitting fraudulent funding requests for nonexistent mortgage loans. Continue Reading…
Christopher Colatrella, 43, Wall Township, New Jersey was sentenced to 5 years in state prison after pleading guilty to 2nd Degree Financial Facilitation of Criminal Activity (Money Laundering) related to an investigation that involved mortgage fraud, theft by deception and money laundering. Christopher Colatrella’s brother John Colatrella, 52, Long Branch, New Jersey was sentenced to 2 years probation for 3rd Degree Conspiracy to Commit Theft by Deception. John Colatrella’s daughter Alexis Colatrella, 29, Wall Township, New Jersey was admitted into Pre-Trial Intervention for her role obtaining fraudulent mortgages.
The investigation involved over $2 million in fraudulent loans for townhouses located in Lakehurst, New Jersey. The criminal activity resulted in a financial benefit totaling over $740,000 from fraudulent mortgages and the proceeds were inserted and laundered through multiple personal and business accounts.
Charges against Martin D’Amato, Clara Cara, Dolores Cittadino and Vincent Veritas were dismissed as part of the plea agreement
Brett Depue, 42, Gilbert, Arizona, was convicted following a four-day jury trial, and 1½ days of deliberations, of one count of conspiracy to commit mail, bank and wire fraud, and seven counts wire fraud in connection with a Las Vegas mortgage fraud scheme. Depue was remanded to custody and sentencing is scheduled for November 9 at 9:00 a.m. Depue‘s previous conviction on mortgage fraud charges was overturned by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
“We are pleased that a second jury determined that Mr. Depue had committed fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden. “There were over 100 homes used as part of this conspiracy to defraud the financial institutions of millions.” Continue Reading…
Glorvina Constant, 36, New Haven, Connecticut, was sentenced to one year of probation for participating in a mortgage fraud scheme. Her husband, Jason Sheehan, 41, New Haven, Connecticut, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for a bankruptcy and tax fraud scheme involving his company, Infinistaff, LLC. As part of that scheme, Constant received Infinistaff payroll checks totaling $354,000 during the pendency of Infinistaff’s bankruptcy proceedings even though she performed no work for the company. Continue Reading…
A husband and wife have been charged with stealing over $100,000 from an elderly woman with the assistance of a notary public. Christina Espinosa Aldana, 32, Garden Grove, California; Thalia Lugo-Lainez. 37, Garden Grove, California; and Willmar Lainez, 44, Anaheim, California were each charged with three felony counts of filing a false document and three felony counts of forgery with sentencing enhancement allegations for aggravated white collar crime over $100,000, property loss over $65,000 and theft over $100,000. Lugo-Lainez and Lainez are also charged with two felony counts each of grand theft, two felony counts of theft from an elder, and two felony counts of identity theft. Aldana is also charged with three felony counts of perjury by declaration.
Aldana is a registered notary public certified by the California Secretary of State. She is also employed in a clerical position by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA), but does not provide notary services to OCDA.
Between November 7, 2008, and January 1, 2009, Lugo-Lainez and Lainez are accused of living with the elderly victim, the maternal grandmother of Lugo-Lainez, and forging her name on a second mortgage on her home in Garden Grove, California. Aldana is accused of violating her position of trust as a notary public and knowingly submitting and verifying the false documents. Aldana, Lugo-Lainez, and Lainez are each accused of forging the victim’s signature and information on documents to secure a second mortgage on the victim’s home. Lugo-Lainez and Lainez are accused of taking the money received from the second mortgage and depositing it into their own personal bank accounts, resulting in the victim losing over $75,000.
Additionally, Lainez and Lugo-Lainez are accused of stealing the victim’s personal identifying information in 2014, in order to gain access and control over the victim’s primary bank-account. Lainez and Lugo-Lainez are accused of stealing over $40,000 from that account for their own personal use.
When the victim stopped receiving bank statements in 2014, she contacted the bank and discovered the identity theft. She immediately reported the identity theft to Garden Grove Police Department, who investigated this case and subsequently arrested the defendants. The victim subsequently passed away in June 2014.
If convicted, Lugo-Lainez and Lainez face a maximum sentence of 11 years and four months in state prison, and Aldana faces a maximum sentence of nine years and four months in state prison. Aldana is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, August 3, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. in Department W-12, West Justice Center, Westminster, California. Lainez is scheduled to be arraigned on August 5, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. in Department W-12. Lugo-Lainez remains a fugitive.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Pete Pierce of the Major Fraud Unit is prosecuting this case.
The Federal Housing Administration is expected to rebuff a government watchdog report that criticized down payment assistance programs, questioning why low-income borrowers are charged nominally higher mortgage rates for such programs.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General took issue in a report earlier this month with the so-called “premium pricing” of two down payment assistance programs in Arizona.
The watchdog alleged that NOVA Financial & Investment, a Tucson, Ariz.-based mortgage lender, violated HUD rules by charging borrowers nominally higher mortgage rates in return for assistance. It also alleged the lender failed to conduct due diligence on the non-profit government housing finance agencies that administer the down payment assistance programs and wants the lender to repay $48.5 million for 709 loans.
“The gifts were not true gifts as defined by HUD,” the report said. “To be considered a gift…there must be no expected or implied repayment of the funds to the donor by the borrower.”
The trial of a Phoenix man accused of setting up a real estate Ponzi scheme during the Great Recession continued in Santa Ana on Tuesday.
According to federal prosecutors who spoke with jurors at court, Michael J. Stewart—a co-owner of a real estate firm based in Irvine and Long Beach—set up the Ponzi scheme to pay off old investors while continuing to recruit new ones for a plan to flip distressed apartment buildings during the Great Recession’s housing collapse.
Stewart’s attorney told jurors that in fact his client was innocent and thought his plan was financially prudent because homeowners who lost their property in foreclosure would need to rent apartments.