“[Mortgage Fraud] has the potential to be an epidemic, we think we can prevent a problem that could have as much impact as the S&L crisis”
The same jury that believed an escrow company helped North County developer Kelly Gearhart defraud ex-fighting champ Chuck Liddell did not believe that it had helped defraud five other plaintiffs in the same trial, according to verdicts announced this week.
Adam Lacerda, 31, Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, was sentenced to 324 months in prison for his role in a $3 million conspiracy to scam customers by offering phony consulting services to owners of timeshares through the New Jersey-based Vacation Ownership Group LLC. Lacerda was convicted in September 2013 of one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, nine counts of mail fraud and three counts of wire fraud flowing a seven-week trial before U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman in Camden, New Jersey federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and the evidence presented at trial: Continue Reading…
Keith Vinson, 57, developer, Arden, North Carolina, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in a scheme involving the failed land development deal of Seven Falls, a golf course and luxury residential community in Henderson County, North Carolina. He was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay restitution in the amount of $18,384,584.53
A federal jury convicted Vinson in October 2013 of conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy.
Stated Jill Westmoreland Rose, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina: Continue Reading…
James Richard Currey, 55, Winter Park, Florida, was sentenced in federal court on one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with telemarketing of timeshares. Currey was sentenced to one year in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $67,137.50 in restitution to the individual victims. Continue Reading…
“This case is another sad reminder that so-called investment gurus who make promises of big guaranteed returns should send up red flags. If something seems too good to be true, it usually is.”
Veteran Brooklyn state Sen. John Sampson borrowed $188,500 from a Queens developer to pay back escrow money he had embezzled and then asked the man to hide records of the loan and lie to federal investigators, a former friend testified as Sampson’s corruption trial began Wednesday.
The latest Mortgage Fraud Risk Report reflects a 4% percent decrease in 2014 over 2013 that signals a halt in the gradually rising trend of mortgage fraud observed in the previous four years. The only type of fraud with increasing risk was property valuation, according to the report, which increased by 17%. The report also reflect that overall, mortgage fraud risk has appeared to normalize and there is less overall real estate market volatility with stabilization of real estate prices and inventory across the nation.
The Mortgage Fraud Risk Report is issued by Interthinx, a subsidiary of First American Financial Corporation.
Jasper Buck, 59, formerly of Westminster, Maryland and elsewhere including Sanford, Florida and Lake Mary, Florida, pled guilty to mail fraud arising from an investment fraud scheme in which Buck stole more than $1.96 million from clients.
According to his plea agreement, Buck worked for mortgage companies, but held himself out to investors as an experienced investment advisor. Buck admitted that from October 2006 through at least December 2014, he told his victims that he was a representative of Portfolio Financial Group (PFG). Buck told the victims that PFG would loan money provided by the victims to borrowers who needed funds quickly or were unable to obtain traditional bank loans and were therefore willing to pay a higher interest rate on the loans. In fact, there were no such borrowers, and Buck used the victims’ money for his own personal use or to further his fraud scheme. Continue Reading…