Stavroula Mendez, 68, real estate developer, was sentenced to 135 months in prison; Lazaro Mendez, 42, real estate developer, was sentenced to 108 months in prison; and Marie Mendez, 49, real estate developer, was sentenced to 57 months in prison in connection with their roles in a mortgage fraud scheme that caused losses of $27.8 million. U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz of the Southern District of Florida also ordered each of the defendants to forfeit $35,252,331 in fraudulent proceeds and to pay $21,240,064 in restitution. In November 2014, all three defendants were convicted of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy. Eleven other co-conspirators were previously convicted of fraud in connection with the scheme. Continue Reading…
Mohamed Daoud, 50, a Norwegian businessman, has pleaded guilty to laundering the proceeds of a complex scheme to steal real property. According to his plea agreement, between July 2012 and February 2013, Daoud helped to launder some of the millions of dollars in proceeds generated by a group of confederates who posed as the real owners of Southern California homes in order to “sell” the properties to unsuspecting buyers—who later learned that they had actually purchased nothing. Immediately after each sale, Daoud admitted, the confederates would disburse the money, ensuring that the funds vanished and the buyers could not recover their stolen money. Continue Reading…
Orlando Vera, 55, Whittier, California, pleaded guilty to one felony charge of mortgage lending fraud in Nevada, a category “B” felony. His plea was a result of his role in a scheme to cheat several hopeful homebuyers out of $904,861. A month earlier, Vera’s co-defendant, Juan Robles, 35, Las Vegas, Nevada pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor for the same scam. Their crimes were committed between November 2012 and January 2014.
Vera schemed to defraud potential Nevada homebuyers by promising to purchase houses using their substantial savings as down payments, but ultimately failed to buy the houses. Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Kerry Earley will sentence Vera and Robles at a date to be determined. A third co-defendant, Christian Delgado, 39, Las Vegas, Nevada, will stand trial on April 4, 2016 for his role in the scheme. Continue Reading…
John Shiells, Real Estate Investor, Danville, California, and Miguel De Sanz, Real Estate Investor, San Francisco, California each pleaded guilty to three counts of bid rigging and three counts of mail fraud in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California in Oakland, California. Both were charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of California on Nov. 19, 2014 in connection with their role in bid-rigging conspiracies and mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California. Continue Reading…
The FBI and U.S. Marshals are searching for a Honolulu woman who was indicted by a federal grand jury on criminal charges related to an alleged $3 million scheme to defraud homeowners, title companies and banks in a real estate scam.
Jennifer Ann McTigue, formerly Jennifer Lowe, has not been seen since June 30. Officials say there is no record of her leaving Oahu on a commercial flight and she is suspected of hiding in Hawaii.
A former national radio host found guilty of mortgage fraud last year left a federal courthouse Tuesday appearing grateful after being sentenced to probation instead of prison time.
Prosecutors have said Warren Ballentine, 44, formerly of Country Club Hills, acted as the real estate lawyer at closings involving more than two dozen fraudulent loans that bilked lenders out of almost $10 million. A jury in October found him guilty of six counts of mail, wire and bank fraud as well as making false statements to financial institutions.
For a mortgage fraud scheme that he said tore his family apart, a Rossford man was sentenced Tuesday to 46 months in prison.
Herman “Wayne” Bradley, 59, also was ordered by U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary to pay a $10,000 fine and forfeit more than $2 million in cash seized in 2011 from a safe at his Glenwood Road home. The money will be used to pay more than $1 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and banks that incurred losses resulting from the scheme.
Restitution checks that will collectively total $820,000 will be mailed to 121 victims, among them some from the Inland area, of a foreclosure avoidance scheme that put William Hutchings and nine others behind bars, San Diego County prosecutors say.
The case, prosecuted in 2009, had Hutchings and others convincing people who wanted to avoid foreclosure to turn over grant deeds to their homes in Riverside and San Diego counties. Most of the victims spoke little English.
Zavier Kay Hafiz, Arizona, plead guilty on May 7, 2015 to Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices and was sentenced to six years in prison, followed by another seven years of probation. In addition, he was ordered to pay $3,554,838.40 in restitution. Hafiz, who was doing business as ZK Group, was charged after an FBI-led investigation revealed his company fraudulently misled nearly forty victims to whom he sold real estate throughout Arizona. Continue Reading…
According to the Nashville Post, a Nashville company specializing in the acquisition of distressed properties is facing allegations it used forgery and fraud in a massive scheme to purchase tax-sale properties for pennies on the dollar.
A 133-page complaint filed last week in Davidson County Chancery Court details the alleged scheme perpetuated by REO Holdings LLC and its principals Charles E. Walker, Jon Paul Johnson, Julie Coone and Merdan Ibrahim.