Mark Avalos, 49, St. Peters, Missouri,pled guilty to bank fraud charges relating to his work as the Controller for The Mortgage Store, Inc. in 2008.
Gilbert G. Lundstrom, 72, Lincoln, Nebraska, the former Chief Executive Officer of TierOne Bank, a publicly traded commercial bank formerly headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, was charged for his role in a scheme to defraud TierOne’s shareholders and mislead regulators by concealing the declining value of its loan and real estate portfolio.
Barry J. Graham, 59, and Ricky Lynn Stokes, 54, both of Ft. Myers, Florida, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lurana S. Snow in Key West. The charges stem from the defendants’ participation in a $300 million Ponzi scheme involving the sale of vacation rental units to approximately 1,400 investors in the Florida Keys and elsewhere.
Jason Vitulano, 39, Boca Raton, Florida, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra to 132 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for operating boiler rooms that collected advance fees from distressed homeowners purportedly in exchange for obtaining loan modifications for the homeowners.
Craig S. On, 62, Berkeley, California, pleaded guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Make a Materially False and Misleading Statement to an Accountant. On admitted that he did not inform auditors about approximately $67 million in potential losses from the sale of loans held by the bank.
Martin E. Schmidt, Jr., 57, Beecher, Illinois, and Donna M. Barber, 53, also of Beecher, have pleaded guilty to federal charges for fraudulently creating false reports that made it appear that the bank’s loan portfolio was in better shape than it actually was.
John Lee Norris, 43, and Julie Tina Hatcher, 39, both of Kansas City, Missouri, owners and operators of a firm that promised to help financially-strapped homeowners and clients get out of debt and foreclosure, were sentenced in federal court for defrauding 81 clients, lenders and the government of more than $1 million.
Mae Rabuffo, 75, New York, Raymond E. “Ray” Olivier, 53, Land O’ Lakes, Florida, and Curtis Allen Davis, 52, Tampa, Florida, the final three individuals involved in the $49.6 million Hampton Springs, North Carolina, mortgage fraud scheme, have been sentenced. Continue Reading…
Christian Peterson, 45, Madison, Wisconsin, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Barbara B. Crabb to seven years in federal prison following his convictions for bank fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to banks. Peterson was previously convicted of lying about the purpose of a $1.1 million loan for real estate development.
Octavio Lombardo, a/k/a Otto Lombardo, 67, was arrested on wire fraud charges stemming from his advance fee loan scheme, which allegedly defrauded victims of more than $1 million.