Robert Moreno, San Diego, California, a banker who sold mortgages on behalf of GMAC, admitted receiving more than one million dollars in bribe payments while working on behalf of GMAC. In return, Moreno used his position and influence to ensure that his customers won their bids to purchase mortgage notes.
Israel Hechter, 47, San Diego, California, the owner of San Diego-based mortgage investment firms Ocean 18, LLC, and Note Tracker Corporation, admitted in federal court that he paid $1 million in bribes to bank insiders at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, GMAC Mortgage, LLC, and National City Bank. Three other defendants also pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy.
Grant McCollough, 38, Kearney, Nebraska, a real estate investor and owner of Tycoon Investments, and his wife, Marisa McCollough, 36, pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to defraud mortgage lenders and impede the Internal Revenue Service.
Susan C. Kevra-Shiner, 46, Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, was indicted and charged with seven counts of mail fraud relating to an abstract and title insurance company she owned in Avoca, Pennsylvania, GK Abstract Co., Inc. Despite losing an agency agreement with Stewart Title Guaranty Company, Kevra-Shiner allegedly continued to issue numerous title insurance policies.
Matthew R. Shurts, 42, Beloit, Kansas, pleaded guilty to defrauding a bank for misrepresenting the extent of his collateral.
Barry J. Graham, 59, Ft. Lauderdale, was charged by superseding information with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 371, in connection with a $300 million Ponzi scheme involving the sale of vacation rental units to approximately 1,400 investors in the Florida Keys and elsewhere. Continue Reading…
Steven Russell Hart, 55, Madill, Oklahoma, was sentenced to serve 33 months in prison for defrauding an investor of more than $700,000 to pay for construction that never took place, including five houses that did not exist.
Thomas Yu, 51, San Ramon, California, was convicted of Conspiracy to Commit False Bank Entries, Reports, and Transactions by pleading guilty to Count Six of the pending Superseding Indictment in this case. By failing to properly report poor performing loans, Yu admitted that he helped the bank avoid required loan loss reserves that enabled the bank to artificially inflate its reported earnings to the public.
Chaval Williams, 53, Centennial, Colorado, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martinez to serve 74 months in federal prison for wire fraud, identity theft and money laundering federal authorities for devising a scheme to defraud real estate lenders, particularly by fraudulently securing real estate financing for the purchase of properties, typically through the use of nominee home buyers.
Nancy Wolf-Fels, 57, Toms River, New Jersey; Dwayne Onque, 46, Belleville, New Jersey; and Mashon Onque, 43, East Orange, New Jersey, were convicted by a federal jury of conspiring to defraud financial institutions as part of a $15 million mortgage fraud scam that used phony documents and straw buyers to make illegal profits on overbuilt condos.