George Dravilas, real estate broker, 37, Medinah, Illinois, was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme involving a pair of Chicago apartment buildings. Dravilas pled guilty in February to one count of bank fraud. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman ordered Dravilas to pay $463,110 in restitution. Dravilas will begin serving his sentence no later than Sept. 21, 2015. Continue Reading…
Hector Hernandez, real estate developer and owner of a mortgage company, 57, Miami, Florida; Aleida Fontao, co-owner of a mortgage company, 62, Miami, Florida; and Olga Hernandez, senior mortgage underwriter, 58, Lake Mary, Florida, each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution in connection with an FHA mortgage fraud scheme involving federally insured mortgages that caused losses of $64 million to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Including these defendants, 25 individuals have pleaded guilty to offenses related to this scheme to date.. Hector and Olga Hernandez both pleaded guilty on July 13, 2015, while Fontao pleaded guilty on July 7, 2015. As part of his plea, Hector Hernandez also agreed to forfeit $8 million, which amounts to his profits from the scheme.
Hector Hernandez’s mortgage company, Great Country Mortgage Bankers, specialized in mortgage loans that were insured by the FHA. Continue Reading…
Olga Palamarchuk, 45, Rancho Cordova, California; Pyotr Bondaruk, 44, Sacramento, California; Vera Zhiry, 35, Sacramento, California; and Peter Kuzmenko, 37, West Sacramento, California, were found guilty by a federal jury after a three week trial of conspiracy to commit mail fraud related to a mortgage fraud conspiracy. Palamarchuk and Bondaruk were also found guilty of making false statements to a financial institution and money laundering. Zhiry was also found guilty of money laundering.
According to evidence presented at trial, Palamarchuk, a loan officer at Capital Mortgage Lending Inc., recruited Bondaruk to purchase two houses using 100 percent financing and to refinance and obtain a home equity line of credit on one of the houses. In order to qualify for the loans, Palamarchuk and Bondaruk submitted fraudulent loan applications to lenders, falsely stating Bondaruk’s employment, income, assets, and intent to occupy the homes as his primary residence. Continue Reading…
A wanted fugitive was arrested late Saturday night in Kaimuki.
Jennifer McTigue was wanted by the FBI after she failed to appear in court and didn’t respond to calls.
Agents from the FBI, along with U.S. Marshals and Honolulu Police converged on a Pukalani Place residence off Wilhemina Rise late Saturday night and took McTigue into custody.
After several delays, Fredericksburg-area real estate investor James Ashby Moncure is scheduled to be sentenced Monday in federal court for wire fraud and illegal monetary transactions.
Prosecutors want the 42-year-old father of two to serve more than seven years in federal prison and pay $8.2 million in restitution, according to documents in U.S. District Court in Richmond.
Imagine that you are one of the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers at risk of losing your home. You’ve fallen behind on mortgage payments, and — the home that you worked hard to buy for your family is suddenly in jeopardy.
One day, you get a call from a company offering the help you so desperately need. A soothing voice on the other end of the phone line promises that you will be able to save your home. Desperate for any solution, you arrange a monthly payment plan, relieved that your nightmare is finally coming to an end.
He was convicted of hijacking a home – and now the I-Team has learned the same man is being accused in another real estate scheme known as “deed shifting.”
It involves a program in which people can rent-to-own a home – a less expensive way to achieve the American Dream. But one homeowner discovered that a house he paid for was never really his.
David Brandon Ball, 35, Charleston, West Virginia, was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for defrauding timeshare owners throughout the United States and Canada.
Ball and an associate, David Andrew Glynn, formed Mountain State Resales, LLC (MSR), a bogus company used to defraud timeshare owners of money. Ball and his associates told timeshare owners that MSR had a buyer for their timeshares and persuaded them to advance money to MSR in South Charleston to cover fees and expenses necessary for the sales. In truth, however, MSR had no buyers for the timeshares. Ball knew that the timeshare owners would not receive anything in return for money sent to MSR. Continue Reading…
A federal trial began Wednesday for a married couple accused of orchestrating a $300 million fraud involving thousands of investors who were promised big profits by purchasing dilapidated properties in the Florida Keys and elsewhere that would be transformed into luxurious resorts.
Instead, prosecutors say Fred Davis “Dave” Clark Jr., former president of now-defunct Cay Clubs Resorts and Marinas, and Cristal Clark, a top sales agent, defrauded banks and about 1,400 individual investors through a series of misleading marketing materials and false statements. The investors in some cases were promised quick returns of 15 to 20 percent, according to court documents.