A Sonoma County man accused of bilking dozens of distressed homeowners out of tens of thousands of dollars faces 19 new criminal counts.
Miguel Angel Lopez now faces a total of 64 criminal counts, not including dozens of enhancement charges, which would add to his prison sentence if convicted. Many of his victims Monday saw the suspect for the first time since his arrest five weeks ago and emotions ran high.
A former California real estate developer who bilked millions of dollars from investors had every intention of finishing development projects that went belly-up during the 2007 housing collapse, his attorney argued in court on Monday.
But three of the investors said the developer, Kelly Gearhart, knew they would never see their money again and has ruined their lives.
Ricky Lamont Flemings, 31, Antelope, California was sentenced to two years in prison for two counts of mail fraud in connection with a long-running scheme to deceive Experian and the other credit reporting agencies by exploiting provisions in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a statute intended to provide consumer protections to individuals. According to court documents, from 2005 until November 12, 2009, Flemings engaged Experian on multiple occasions and falsely reported that he was the victim of identity theft. During that period, Flemings demanded that Experian remove derogatory and other entries from his credit report. However, as he well knew, many of those entries were proper and were the result of his having sought credit or purchased items on credit. Continue Reading…
Patrick A. Nosack, 34, Henderson, Nevada, pled guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with a telemarketing scheme involving timeshare resales. The telemarketing scam operated in Las Vegas, Nevada, and bilked over 3,000 victims of approximately 10 million dollars. Continue Reading…
A Boulder man convicted of stealing more than $30,000 from an elderly woman in a real estate scam is now scheduled to be sentenced in August after his hearing was delayed today.
Gilbert Million was convicted by a jury in May of five felonies, including criminal exploitation of an at-risk elder, theft of $20,000 to $100,000, attempted theft of $500 or more from an at-risk elder, offering a false instrument for recording in the first-degree, and criminal impersonation.
Ramin Rad “Ray” Yeganeh, real estate investor, San Mateo, California was indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California in Oakland and charged with bid rigging and conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with public foreclosure auctions. Continue Reading…
You know those people who live in foreign countries and place calls into the US in an attempt to defraud people here? Those calls your mother or grandfather receive telling them that they won $1,000,000 in the Jamaican lottery and will receive the money as soon as they wire $20,000 to cover the taxes and administrative costs?
I was very pleased to read that the U.S. extradited Damian Bryan Barrett from Jamaica and prosecuted him for his role in an international lottery scheme perpetrated against elderly victims in the United States. The prosecution is part of the United States’ ongoing crackdown on fraudulent international lottery schemes. Continue Reading…
A Florida man has been charged in Pittsburgh with conspiring with Joseph Nocito, president of Castle Mortgage, in a multi-million dollar bank fraud scheme involving a house in Florida.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday charged Mark Sosso, 43, the owner of Sosso Homes in Sarasota, with one count of conspiracy. The charge is contained in what prosecutors call an “information,” rather than a grand jury indictment, which is typically an indication of cooperation with the government.
“This sentence sends a very strong message that scammers operating in foreign countries will be held accountable for the laws they break in the United States. The Justice Department is committed to bringing these international fraudsters to justice.”
A federal grand jury returned a 15-count indictment against seven individuals, charging them with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and bank fraud, mail fraud and aiding and abetting, and making false statements to a bank in a mortgage fraud scheme.
Jyoteshna Karan, 43, Modesto, California; Praveen Singh, 36, Modesto, California; and Mahendra Prasad, 53, Fremont, California, were arrested June 26, 2015 at their homes. The remaining defendants each received a summons to appear for arraignment: Phul Singh, 79, Modesto, California; Sunita Singh, 60, Modesto, California, Nani Isaac, 69, Ceres, California; and Martin Bahrami, 42, Turlock, California. Continue Reading…