Sammy Araya, 41, Santa Ana, California was sentenced to 20 years, Michael Henderson, 49, Costa Mesa, California was sentenced to 12 years, and Jen Seko, 36, Anaheim, California was sentenced to 7 years in prison, all for their roles in a nationwide, multi-year “home mortgage modification” fraud that scammed thousands of vulnerable victims out of at least $11 million. All three defendants were convicted by a federal jury on April 21, of multiple counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
“For Sammy Araya, Michael Henderson, and Jen Seko, the financial struggles of more than 3,000 homeowners were an opportunity for theft,” said Special Inspector General Christy Goldsmith Romero. “Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) crime is particularly despicable because it targets vulnerable homeowners at risk of foreclosure. The scheme of ringleader Araya and his co-conspirators Henderson and Seko involved mailing to homeowners that faced foreclosure hundreds of thousands of deceptive and misleading mass mailers that touted help with the HAMP program. They took more than $11 million, yet only provided empty promises of admission into HAMP. Araya bragged about obstructing the criminal investigation and when caught, all showed no remorse or contrition for the crimes they committed and the victims they defrauded. I thank U.S. Attorney Boente and his team for their hard work and commitment in ensuring these defendants got the justice they deserved.”
According to court documents, from at least March 2011 through September 2014, Araya and his co-conspirators targeted struggling homeowners and made a series of misrepresentations to induce them to make payments of thousands of dollars each in exchange for supposed “mortgage modification” assistance. The conspirators lured vulnerable victims into the scam through targeted mass mailers sent to homeowners facing foreclosure through Seko’s company, Seko Direct Marketing. In the mailers and in subsequent phone calls, the defendants and their co-conspirators falsely held themselves out as a non-profit organization or as affiliated with a real government program, the Home Affordable Modification Program, designed to help homeowners at risk of foreclosure. Henderson and other “customer service representatives” in the scam convinced victims to send “reinstatement fees” and “trial mortgage payments” to the conspiracy, based on the false representations that the funds would be used to modify their mortgages. In reality, however, the defendants did nothing to help modify any mortgages. Instead, they used the victims’ payments for their own personal benefit and to further the fraud scheme. Araya, the ringleader of the scam, used the fraud proceeds to purchase expensive vehicles, a racehorse, and a variety of luxury goods, as well as to fund his personal travel and a reality television show he produced called “Make It Rain.TV.”
This scheme had devastating consequences for the victim homeowners, all of whom were already in a precarious financial position. Many victims suffered substantially greater financial hardship after falling victim to this conspiracy than they were already facing when they entered into the bogus agreements with the conspirators. In many cases, the lenders ultimately foreclosed on the victims’ homes, after the victims had been induced to make their “trial mortgage payments” to the members of the conspiracy rather than to their lenders.
Twelve defendants have been convicted in the Eastern District of Virginia in this case and a related case in connection with this same scam. They include the following individuals:
Name, Age Hometown | Conviction | Sentence |
Sammy Araya, 41
Santa Ana, California |
Convicted on Counts 1-11 of superseding indictment on April 2 | Sentenced to 20 years |
Michael Henderson, 49
Costa Mesa, California |
Convicted on Counts 1-6 and 9-11 of superseding indictment on April 21 | Sentenced to 12 years |
Jen Seko, 36
Anaheim, California |
Convicted on Counts 1-6 and 9-11 of superseding indictment on April 21 | Sentenced to 7 years |
Roscoe Umali, 38
Santa Ana, California |
Pleaded guilty March 22, 2016 | 220 months in prison on Aug. 18, 2016 |
Joshua Sanchez, 37
Las Vegas, Nevada |
Pleaded guilty July 8, 2015 | 151 months in prison on Oct. 29, 2015 |
Kristen Ayala, 32
Las Vegas, Nevada |
Pleaded guilty August 4, 2015 | 135 months in prison on Oct. 29, 2015 |
Isaac Perez, 33
Los Angeles |
Pleaded guilty March 30, 2016 | 130 months in prison on Sept. 1, 2016 |
Joshua Johnson, 36
Huntington Beach, California |
Pleaded guilty March 30, 2016 | 121 months in prison on July 7, 2016 |
Jefferson Maniscan, 34
Los Angeles |
Pleaded guilty March 29, 2016 | 120 months in prison on Aug. 18, 2016 |
Nicholas Estilow, 34
Mission Viejo, California |
Pleaded guilty January 18 | 80 months in prison on June 1, 2017
|
Raymund Dacanay, 47
Newport Beach, California |
Pleaded guilty March 29, 2016 | 60 months in prison on July 21, 2016 |
Sabrina Rafo, 24
Garden Grove, California |
Pleaded guilty January 19 | 60 months in prison on June 1, 2017
|
Was Scammy Araya ONLY sentenced to 20 years???