Source: Paul Owers Sun Sentinel (MCT) South Florida’s housing bust appears to be over, but mortgage fraud investigators are still busy. A real estate agent and her sister were indicted by a federal grand jury on Tuesday, accused of submitting …
Click here for full article
Source: LoanSafe
Gergawattie “Kamla” Seecharan, 49, and Bhardwaaj “Deo” Seecharan, 52, both of Orange County, Florida, were sentenced in federal court for their participation in an extensive mortgage fraud scheme.
Kamla Seecharan had previously pled guilty to conspiracy involving more than $50 million of mortgage loan funds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341, 1343 and 1349. Deo Seecharan had pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud involving $3.5 million in diverted real estate escrow funds, in violation of Title 18, Untied States Code, Sections 1349 and 1344.
At the hearing, U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez sentenced Kamla Seecharan to 121 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. Judge Martinez also sentenced Deo Seecharan to 60 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. In addition, Deo Seecharan was ordered to pay $2,040,343.14 in restitution to the victim banks. The Court scheduled a restitution hearing for December 18, 2012, in Fort Pierce, to determine the restitution to be paid to the victim mortgage lenders and banks by Kamla Seecharan.
According to statements made in court and publicly filed documents in the case, on December 9, 2010, the Seecharans and two others were indicted on bank fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and related mortgage fraud charges. According to the charges, the Seecharans, along with their two co-defendants, conspired to solicit mainly Guyanese residents of Florida and other states to act as straw buyers on fraudulent applications for more than $50 million worth of mortgage loans in connection with the purchase of more than 150 homes in Indian River County, Miami-Dade County, and elsewhere. Approximately 80 individuals served as straw buyers of properties in Vero Lake Estates (VLE), Indian River County, Florida, and other developments.
This scheme resulted in the issuance of more than $50 million in fraudulent mortgage loans. The proceeds were then used to buy more properties, sustain the deception and service preexisting mortgage loans in the scheme, and pay kickbacks to the straw buyers.
In addition, Kamla Seecharan and codefendant Linda Rovetto unlawfully diverted more than $3.5 million in mortgage loans from real estate closing escrow accounts to Raviworld New Homes, Inc., a company managed by Kamla Seecharan‘s husband and codefendant Deo Seecharan. Linda Rovetto was sentenced on August 21, 2012, by Judge Martinez to 42 months in prison for her part in the bank fraud.
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael B. Steinbach, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announced the sentencing.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI. Mr. Ferrer also thanked the State of Florida Office of Financial Regulation, Bureau of Finance, West Palm Beach Regional Office for their work on this investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Cooperstein.
Anthony Haynes, 53, Seffner, Florida, is charged with mail and wire fraud affecting a financial institution. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison on each count. The indictment also notifies Haynes that the United States is seeking a money judgment in the amount of $990,498, the proceeds of the mail and wire fraud.
According to the indictment, Haynes, who is employed as the real estate services director for Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, made material misrepresentations in connection with loan applications and closing documents for two mortgages made for his purchase of nine lots of land in Tennessee. The mortgages were funded by interstate wires from a federally insured bank, and the closing was conducted by mail.
An Indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of the federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announced the five-count indictment.
This case was investigated by Federal Bureau of Investigation. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kelley C. Howard-Allen.
Svetlana Dubinsky, 48, Boca Raton, Florida; Serge Doubinski, 29, San Francisco, California; Zinayda Chekayda, 49, Antelope, California; Volodymyr Dubinsky, 53, formerly of Folsom, California; Leonid Doubinski, 47, formerly of Copperopolis, California; Edward Khalfin, 55, San Mateo, California; Robin Dimiceli, 50, Brentwood, California; Diana Woods, 55, Citrus Heights, California and Kory Schmidli, 34, Linden, California, have been charged in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme involving the purchase of at least 19 homes.
According to the indictments (Indictment 1, Indictment 2), two brothers, Volodymyr Dubinsky and Leonid Doubinski, built, developed, and sold real estate in Carmichael, Sacramento, and Copperopolis, California. As the real estate market declined, the brothers recruited family members, employees, and associates with good credit to act as straw buyers for residential properties. Licensed mortgage broker Khalfin, and licensed real estate salespersons Dimiceli and Woods assisted in the scheme by submitting the loan applications for the straw buyers. They allegedly prepared and submitted applications to lenders that falsely stated the straw buyers’ income, assets, and intent to occupy the homes as their primary residences. The straw buyers included Dimiceli, Woods, Svetlana Dubinsky, Serge Doubinski, Chekayda, and Schmidli.
United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner made the announcement.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Todd A. Pickles, R. Steven Lapham, and Lee S. Bickley are prosecuting the case.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The actual sentences, if convicted, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The allegations in the indictment are mere accusations and all persons are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Terrence Ezekiel Paulin, 47, Ashland, Kentucky, has been sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to investment fraud.
As previously reported on Mortgage Fraud Blog, during late 2007 or early 2008, Shawn Swor was a mortgage broker in Missoula, Montana. Swor’s business consisted, largely, of making hard money loans to clients who could not get loans through conventional banking means. Hard money lenders are lending companies offering a specialized type of real-estate backed loan. Hard money lenders provide short-term loans (also called “bridge” loans) that provide funding based on the value of real estate that has been collateralized for the loan. Hard money lenders typically have much higher interest rates than banks because they fund deals that do not conform to bank standards.
At the time, in late 2007 and early 2008, Swor was looking into funding sources from a number of people, mostly over the Internet, who would contact him promoting investment ideas involving securities. Swor promoted himself as someone who could find sources of funds and link them together with people wanting to borrow money. He admitted during interviews with law enforcement that he had difficulty verifying the credibility of those holding themselves out to be viable funding sources.
One of the funding sources Swor met over the internet in late 2007 was Paulin, who was also a hard money lender and broker. Swor started working with Paulin identifying the validity of different funding sources offered over the internet. Paulin and Swor found several investment opportunities in securities programs they believed could be used to raise funds for the loans they were working on at the time. Swor and Paulin worked on this project for at least a month before it was determined most of the sources were not legitimate. Over the next couple of months, Paulin and Swor stayed in contact with each other as other opportunities arose.
When Dan Oaheyoh Two Feathers met Swor, Two Feathers claimed he knew several different ways to generate cash flow through the purchase and sale of securities in Europe; providing large rates of return for investors as well as the brokers and traders which could be used to funds the hard money loans both Swor and Paulin were working on. In February of 2008, Two Feathers, Swor, and Paulin decided to start a business to offer investments in high yield investment opportunities using several different leveraged investment and securities programs. On February 26, 2008, Two Feathers, Swor, and Paulin formerly established and registered DTF Consulting Groupas a Missoula, Montana, company.
Two Feathers proposed using a large security, such as a Letter of Credit or a Note, which could be leased from a hedge fund, pension fund or bank. Once the security was in hand, the concept was to borrow against the large security and those funds would be used to invest in a risk free investment such as government securities. Two Feathers explained that he had connections in the world of international finance and international banking experience and could purchase securities at a discount and sell them in Europe at a premium. This would allow for additional profit margin on each transaction completed.
The DTF principals would solicit investors whose money would be used to secure the large security through a lease. Prospective investors would, in a short period of time, receive a substantial profit from buying the government securities at a discount and selling them at a premium.
In one particular instance, on or about February 20, 2008, Paulin, using the alias name of Terrence Sovereign, solicited a $10,000 investment in the DTF program from a woman in Florida, representing that the investment would produce a return of 100% within a few weeks. He told this investor that he was working with two partners, Dan Latham (the former surname of Two Feathers) and Swor. Paulin collected the investment proceeds in cash and provided the investor with personal checks as a means of assuring the investor of the safety of the investment in the leveraging scheme. Attempts to deposit the checks and recover the investment failed as Paulin had no funds in the account. There was no record of this money being deposited into the DTF account at Farmers State Bank in Victor, Montana, where the money from the scheme was often deposited.
Paulin manufactured a fraudulent Letter of Credit from Wachovia Bank in the amount of $1.5 billion to show potential investors that DTF had the necessary negotiable instrument available to make the investment trading program work. Paulin acknowledged to investigators that the document he created was fraudulent and that he knew it was fraudulent. Paulin claimed the fraudulent document was created at Two Feathers’ direction and request. Two Feathers advised investigators that it was Paulin ‘s idea and that he did not request or direct its creation, although he admitted knowing about the Letter of Credit. Paulin ‘s understanding was that the Letter of Credit was to be used to entice potential investors into DTF’s trading program. However, according to Paulin, Two Feathers started using the letter in other ways, including representation of the document as genuine to a real estate agent for the attempted purchase of property.
Paulin and Swor had a falling out with Two Feathers after the real estate agent discovered that the Wachovia Bank Letter of Credit was bogus and turned it over to local law enforcement and both stopped promoting the DTF scheme in June of 2008.
The DTF promotion attracted eight victims. A secondary scheme was tailored more as an advanced fee scheme where the investor would pay money up front for a hard money loan. Three more victims paid the advanced fee on the promise that DTF could and would secure loan funds. The total loss for all 11 victims between February and June of 2008 was approximately $800,000. The money, in whole or in part, was wired to the DTF account at Farmers State Bank in Victor, Montana, which was controlled by Two Feathers.
Of that amount “” not including the $10,000 in cash received from the Florida victim “” Paulin received $278,175 from Two Feathers.
Swor and Two Feathers pled guilty to federal charges and have been sentenced.
Paulin was sentenced to 33 months in prison; a special assessment of $100; restitution of $590,458.02 and supervised release of 3 years.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the “truth in sentencing” guidelines mandate that Paulin will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, Paulin does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for “good behavior.” However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service.
Lee Loomis, aka Lawrence Leland Loomis, 54, Granite Bay, California, was arrested and a 50-count indictment was unsealed, charging him and six others with mail fraud and wire fraud.
The indictment alleges that Loomis and his father-in-law, John Hagener, 76, Granite Bay, California, operated a Ponzi scheme in 2007 and 2008 that victimized more than 100 people and caused more than $7 million of losses related to the sale of shares in an investment program called the Naras Funds. Loomis is also charged in the same indictment with five other defendants in two related mortgage fraud schemes that caused more than $10 million in losses to mortgage lenders and others.
The three frauds are connected to a wealth-building program offered to the public through Loomis Wealth Solutions (LWS) in California, Illinois, Washington, and elsewhere from 2006 through 2008. According to the indictment, Loomis encouraged members who joined LWS: (1) to purchase whole life insurance; (2) to “harvest” home equity and retirement accounts to buy shares in the Naras Funds; and (3) to serve as “nominees” in the purchase of residential real estate controlled by Loomis. Loomis promised members of Loomis Wealth Solutions that they could acquire real estate at no cost to themselves. Moreover, he said he would pay them more than $300 per month for each home they agreed to acquire and those payments could be applied to the life insurance premiums. He marketed his plan as “simply the best financial plan ever created.”
In the Naras Funds Ponzi scheme, Loomis and Hagener are charged with falsely promising 12 percent annual returns in two investment funds: (1) Naras Secured Fund #1 and (2) Naras Secured Fund #2. According to the indictment, to induce people to invest in the Naras Funds, Loomis and Hagener falsely promised that the Naras Funds were invested in junior mortgages paying 14 percent annual returns. The two men also claimed that the Naras Funds were guaranteed by secured deeds of trust in residential real estate and by backing from a third-party company. According to the indictment, those statements were false. In fact, Loomis and Hagener used the money to pay operating expenses of various Loomis-controlled companies, to pay themselves, and to pay earlier investors. Loomis and Hagener are charged with mailing false monthly investment reports to victims and arranging wire transfers of victims’ home equity and retirement accounts to the failing Naras Funds in 2008.
Loomis and an appraiser, Darren Fehst, 44, Halifax, Nova Scotia, are also charged with mail fraud related to a property flipping mortgage fraud scheme that operated in 2007. In this scheme, Loomis is accused of orchestrating secret payments of thousands of dollars to Fehst to inflate appraisals for properties acquired by Advantage Financial Plan of California LLC, a Loomis-controlled entity. AFP-CA bought properties at market prices and flipped them to members of Loomis Wealth Solutions, often just days later, at substantially inflated prices. According to the indictment, Fehst inflated home values and falsely certified to lenders that he had no financial stake in the property transactions he was appraising. Loomis is also accused of misleading lenders into believing his “nominees” were making their own down payments of approximately 20 percent per home when, in fact, Loomis was reimbursing the down payments to nominees outside of escrow. According to the indictment, the nominees had little to no financial stake in the properties. Jay Grivette, 37, Magalia, California, the former manager of AFP-CA, pleaded guilty to this scheme on July 10, 2012 before United States District Court Judge John A. Mendez.
Loomis is further charged in a second mortgage fraud scheme related to acquiring approximately 200 properties in California, Arizona, Florida, and elsewhere, for members of Loomis Wealth Solutions to buy. The indictment charges Loomis and five others with falsifying the sales prices on homes from late 2007 through August 2008, causing approximately $10 million in losses.
According to the indictment, Loomis used Michael Llamas, 27, Tracy, California and Peter Woodard, 54, Ventura, California to approach builders of new homes and developers of condominiums to purchase investment homes in bulk at substantial price discounts ranging from 30 to 50 percent off under the terms of an “option contract.” Llamas and Woodard had no financial ability and no intention of purchasing the homes; rather, the homes were to be sold to Loomis’s nominee members at full price. Loomis then arranged for his mortgage company, Nationwide Lending Group (NLG), to sell mortgage loans for the nominees with banks and other lenders at the full price of the homes without disclosing the large price discount. Lenders were thereby misled into advancing loans that far exceeded their lending guidelines. Also, the large option contract price discount was used to conceal the lack of required down payments by nominee buyers. Loomis, Llamas, and Woodard split what remained of the price discount after subtraction of the fake down payments and certain fees.
Joseph A. Gekko, 43, Yorba Linda, California controlled an escrow company called Lender Services Direct (LSD ), in Mission Viejo, California and Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is accused of preparing Form HUD-1 Final Settlement Statements to reflect the false sales price and to indicate down payments had been made by the nominee buyers when there were no down payments. According to the indictment, Gekko concealed the lack of down payments in a series of sham financial transactions whereby, before he closed escrow, he wired large amounts of lender money to entities associated with Loomis, Llamas, and Woodard. According to court documents Llamas and Woodard induced at least one home builder to record false liens in favor of their entity, Cobalt One LLC, for millions of dollars in bogus loans to cover up large payments from LSD to Cobalt One.
In furtherance of this second mortgage fraud scheme, Loomis and others also charged with causing NLG to provide fraudulent loan applications to lenders on behalf of nominees by means of inflating incomes and falsifying Naras Fund balances on the asset portion of the loan forms. Dawn C. Powers, 40, Lincoln,California an employee of LWS who reported directly to Loomis, is charged with providing false verifications of Naras Fund deposits to lenders in connection with the loans for nominees. Former LWS and NLG employee Christopher Jared Warren, 30, formerly of Sacramento, California and currently in federal custody at the Sacramento County Jail, operated NLG on a daily basis from late 2007 through part of 2008. Warren pleaded guilty to the loan fraud aspect of the scheme on January 10, 2012. Warren was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison by U.S. District Court Judge John A. Mendez on September 11, 2012 for his role in the fraud.
Loomis and Hagener are scheduled to appear in federal court in Sacramento before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman.
United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner made the announcement.
“This large fraud scheme is the type of case that the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force was designed to combat,” said U.S. Attorney Wagner. “In this indictment, the grand jury charged the people responsible for running a mortgage lending company and an escrow company in a fraud scheme that spanned many states and cost lenders and investors tens of millions in losses. With the sentencing of Mr. Warren on Tuesday and these charges unsealed today, we are bringing to justice some of those who are responsible for the mortgage crisis in this district and elsewhere.”
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Russell L. Carlberg, Todd D. Leras, and Paul A. Hemesath are prosecuting the case.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum statutory penalty for each violation of mail and wire fraud of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a three-year term of supervised release. The actual sentences, if convicted, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
The charges in the indictment are only allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
James Thomas Webb, 51, North Carolina, has been charged in a 50-count indictment which includes conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, and making false statements to influence banks on loans and aiding and abetting.
The Indictment charges that between 2002 and 2006, Webb operated various real estate companies, including Alpine Properties, LLC and Webb Builders, LLC for a profit. Webb promised investors in multiple states quick, large, and safe financial gains by investing money with him. Webb promised investors that he would use their money to purchase, renovate, and resell properties to first-time home buyers in various states, including North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. Webb caused investors to take out loans on properties that he and his companies had allegedly renovated.
The indictment further alleges that despite alleged philanthropic and humanitarian objectives, that Webb carried out a fraud upon both the investors who gave cash to Webb, and the banks and lenders who Webb caused to disburse loan proceeds. According to the indictment, Webb conspired with former attorney, Amy Robinson, to falsify closing statements associated with the loan transactions. It is alleged that the closing statements falsified various facts, including the amount of money paid to Webb on the transactions. Webb is also alleged to have conspired with a former appraiser, Larry Max McDaniel, and his associate, Jackie Gale Weaver, to falsify appraisal reports that were given to banks and lenders in connection with investor loans. The appraisal reports are alleged to have falsely stated that McDaniel had physically viewed the properties, when in fact he had not. The indictment also alleges that the properties sold to investors and financed by banks were not always completed or in the condition represented in the appraisal reports.
During the course of the alleged scheme, the indictment charges that Webb lived lavishly, residing in a multi-million-dollar mansion, driving expensive vehicles, including a Bentley, traveling extensively, and otherwise paying himself handsomely. Webb is alleged to have abruptly left North Carolina for Florida in 2004, where he continued to market his services under new company names.
According to the indictment, based upon Webb’s statements and representations to investors, various individuals collectively invested millions of dollars with Webb and his companies. Additionally, banks and lenders are alleged to have disbursed millions of dollars in loans, leaving investors holding millions in debt. The indictment alleges that Webb left various neighborhoods in North Carolina and Virginia blighted with boarded up and dilapidated homes, many of which were ultimately demolished as uninhabitable.
As previously reported on Mortgage Fraud Blog, Larry Max McDaniel, 69, pleaded guilty in federal court on June 11, 2012 to making false statements to federally insured financial institutions, and aiding and abetting. Jackie Gale Weaver pleaded guilty in federal court on September 21, 2011 to conspiracy to make false statements to federally insured financial institutions. Amy Robinson, 35, pleaded guilty in federal court on May 3, 2010 to conspiracy to commit mail, wire, and bank fraud.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
Investigation of this case is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of the Inspector General, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of the Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorney William M. Gilmore is prosecuting the case.
Dean Counce, 42, Spring Hill, Florida, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with inspections of foreclosed properties.
According to the plea agreement, Counce owned American Mortgage Field Services, LLC (AMFS). AMFS performed preservation and inspection work for homes in various phases of foreclosure, including homes that were owned by government entities such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The government entities paid servicing lenders, such as Bank of America, to protect and maintain their properties. Beginning in or around 2007, in order to protect the investments and to prevent unnecessary deterioration that may result from neglect or vandalism, some of these servicing lenders retained Counce’s company to conduct periodic inspection of government-owned or insured properties.
Each month, the servicing lenders would send Counce and AMFS a list of properties that required inspection. Counce performed some inspections personally and, as the business grew, he hired others to assist and eventually take over the inspection process. These inspections required Counce and other AMFS employees to visit a property, fill out an inspection report, and take photographs. Counce and others then compiled these inspection reports and transmitted them electronically to the servicing lender. The servicing lenders then paid Counce and AMFS a fee per inspection.
As the real estate market declined in Florida and throughout the country, Counce and AMFS began to receive an increasing number of requests for inspections on properties in foreclosure, the mortgages for most or all of which were owned or insured by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or FHA. The requests far exceeded Counce’s or AMFS’s capacity to deliver. As a result, Counce and other AMFS employees began fabricating inspection reports.
In total, between 2007 and 2009, Bank of America remitted $4,490,398.87 to Mid-Florida Home Securing (later known as AMFS) and, between 2009 and 2012, Bank of America paid AMFS $19,044,973.06 for inspections, a large percentage of which were never actually performed. As a result of this fraud, Counce and AMFS managed to keep overhead and expenses low and profits high, resulting in net profits to Counce of up to $1 million in a single month. Based on employee reports of fabrication rates, the government estimates the loss in this case to be approximately $12,774,102.
“Dean Counce’s efforts to submit false property inspection claims has produced millions in losses for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and ultimately the American taxpayer,” said Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General Steve Linick. “We are proud to have worked with our law enforcement partners on this case.”
“We know that mortgage fraud can devastate entire communities,” said Special Agent in Charge Michael White of the Federal Housing Administration. “Over the years, the FHA has assisted Americans in gaining the financial independence that comes with owning a home. We come across individuals whose alleged fraudulent conduct can place a financial strain on the FHA Insurance Fund, we go to great lengths to protect FHA’s interests and ensure that this conduct is not tolerated.”
“In my opinion, Mr. Counce’s greed driven deception is an example of the worst type of criminal behavior,” said John Joyce, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service, Tampa. “He exploited and profited from a multitude of fabricated inspection reports, thus taking advantage of a downturned economy. The Secret Service aggressively pursues these and other types of financial crimes with the help of our local, state and federal law enforcement partners.”
United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill made the announcement.
This case was investigated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Office of the Inspector General, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of the Inspector General, and the United States Secret Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Amanda L. Riedel and Sara C. Sweeney.
Michael Sweigart, the last suspect in a multi-state real estate telemarketing ring, is now in custody.
According to indictments returned in June, the suspects operated a criminal enterprise of at least three different companies targeting victims nationwide who owned inexpensive, vacant land throughout the United States. Landowners were fed a series of lies over the phone and were led to believe that their land was worth up to 15 times its assessed value. They were told they had to pay fees of $500 to nearly $16,000 to guarantee the sale of their land.
The enterprise was founded in Ohio in 2007 and operated from many locations, including Troy, Huber Heights, and Vandalia, Ohio. Later, the operation opened new branches in the Tampa, Fla., area.
The 18 suspects were indicted on June 20th for charges including Engaging in a Pattern of Corrupt Activities; Conspiracy; Aggravated Theft of $1.5 million or more; Telecommunications Fraud; Money Laundering; and Telemarketing Fraud. If convicted, the ringleaders face charges that can carry a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 37 and a half years.
Several anonymous tips to the Attorney General’s Office led officers to a home in West Plains, Missouri, where Sweigart went into custody without incident. He had been on the run for more than two months.
The majority of the 18 suspects were arrested in Florida, while officers found others in Ohio, Indiana, New York, and now Missouri.
Sweigart is facing a maximum of 24.5 years in prison for his alleged role in the crimes. He is currently awaiting extradition back to Ohio to face charges. Two other suspects have pleaded guilty in the case, and trial dates for several others have been scheduled.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced the arrest.
“Wednesday’s arrest makes the 18th and final arrest in connection to this ongoing investigation,” said Attorney General DeWine. “We appreciate the teamwork between our Ohio officers and the officers across the country who all helped put each suspect in jail.”
Deputies with the Howell County, Missouri, Sheriff’s Office made the arrest.
Robert Victor Rosenwasser, North Miami, Florida, has been suspended from the practice of law for 90 days, effective 30 days from a June 29, 2012, court order. Rossenwasser was admitted to practice law in Florida in 1992. Rossenwasser is the subject of several Bar disciplinary matters stemming from his involvement in a loan modification business. (Case No. SC12-1120)
Rosenwasser was also required to cease and desist any and all loan modification services in the state of Washington pursuant to a March 11, 2011, Order from the Washington Department of Financial Institutions.
