Housing WireCalifornia and Florida still lead the nation in the number of mortgage loan suspicious activity reports, coming in first and third, respectively. Nevada has moved …
Click here for full article
Source: Housing Wire
Search Results For "florida"
Edward M. Bangasser, 66, Boca Raton, Florida, was sentenced by United States District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington to 15 months in federal prison for conspiring to commit wire fraud and for making false statements to federally insured banks for the purpose of influencing those banks in connection with mortgage loans.
Â
Bangasser was a loan officer at Washington Mutual Bank (WAMU). As part of his sentence, he must also serve six months of home detention following his release from prison. In addition, the court has ordered him to pay more than $450,000 in restitution to JP Morgan Chase (WAMU‘s successor).
Bangasser pled guilty in December 2011.
According to court documents, Bangasser served as a loan officer at WAMU between 2004 and 2006. In that capacity, he conspired with a number of others in a fraud scheme which centered around the fraudulent acquisition and sale of residential properties in the Sarasota area. In his role as a loan officer, Bangasser assisted borrowers, along with other conspirators working in conjunction with the borrowers, in submitting false loan documents to WAMU to secure mortgages on residential homes.
The conspirators with whom Bangasser was associated included R. Craig Adams and Richard J. Bobka. Adams and Bobka both pled guilty for their roles in the scheme, and are scheduled to be sentenced in October 2012. The false statements made by Bangasser, Adams, Bobka and their conspirators, and the material matters which they concealed from WAMU, included the true identity of the borrowers in the fraudulent loan transactions, as well as the borrowers’ actual income and assets.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – Office of Inspector General, and the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christopher P. Tuite.
Barbara M. Diaz, 37, Lehigh Acres, Florida, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud.
According to the plea agreement, by at least April 2008, through October 2008, Diaz conspired with others to defraud mortgage lenders by way of making false statements in HUD-1 settlement statements. As part of the scheme, Diaz, a licensed real estate agent, recruited home buyers to participate in the fraud. Lenders were led to believe that buyers made down payments at closing, when in fact, the buyers made no down payment and were paid money outside of closing for buying the home.
As a result of the scheme, Diaz and others caused the mortgage lenders to provide unqualified loan applicants in excess of $1,000,000, collectively, towards the purchase of nine residential properties in Lehigh Acres, Florida. Diaz received commissions for the sale of the properties in exchange for her participation. Most of the properties have been foreclosed upon, which resulted in losses to the mortgage lenders.
Diaz faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison for each offense.
This case was investigated by Office of Inspector General-Housing and Urban Development. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jesus M. Casas.
Eight people have been indicted for their alleged roles in a multimillion dollar mortgage fraud scam:
Andres Mendez, a/k/a “Andy Mendez, Sr.,” 47, Miami-Dade County, Florida, Andy Mendez, a/k/a “Andy Mendez, Jr.,” 26, Miami-Dade County, Lilia Casal-Diaz, 42, Coral Gables,Florida, an attorney, Ayadie Carmen Londono, 59, Miami, Florida, a former real estate broker, Josephine Santana, 57, Miami-Dade County, a mortgage broker, Jose Rafael Martinez, 36, Miami-Dade County, and Basilio Gomez, 52, Miami-Dade County, have been indicted and charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349. The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of the proceeds of the fraud, including a sum of $5,677,500.
The defendants made their initial appearances in court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman. If convicted, the defendants face a possible statutory maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
According to the indictment, the defendants engaged in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme using straw buyers to purchase residential properties at The Jade apartment complex, Brickell Bay Drive, Miami, Florida. As part of the scheme, the defendants allegedly submitted mortgage loan applications and supporting documents containing false information to lending institutions.
The lending institutions relied on these documents to make mortgage loans to the straw buyers to purchase the residential properties.
More specifically, the indictment alleges that the defendants prepared and submitted to the lenders, false HUD-1 statements. The defendants then created a second version of the HUD-1 statements, listing the actual sales prices, which were provided to the seller. To conceal and perpetuate the fraud, the defendants made some payments to the condominium association and made some mortgage payments to the lenders to prevent foreclosure and continue to receive rental income for the units. The defendants allegedly diverted the mortgage fraud proceeds into shell companies for their personal use.
In addition, in a separate Criminal Information, co-defendant Raquel (Carrie) Martinez, 49, Miami, was charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and money laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, for her role in creating false paperwork to lend legitimacy to the transactions, in return for kickbacks.
In a related case, defendant Jose Arnaldo Rosario, 55, Miami-Dade County, was sentenced on August 5, 2011 for his role in the scheme. Rosario was sentenced to 46 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. Rosario previously pled guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. Rosario provided false information to the lending institution and received two kickbacks from the purchase of two apartments. Rosario received a wire transfer of approximately $275,767.84 and another $266,178.07 through bank accounts of shell companies he controlled.
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, José A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CID), and Paula Reid, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service, Miami Field Office, announced the unsealing of the indictment.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CID and the U.S. Secret Service. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerrob Duffy.
Renee Manning, 39 was arrested for her alleged role in a real estate scam that spanned at least three Florida counties over the past two years and swindled four Floridians out of $700,000. Manning was charged with one count of organized scheme to defraud.
Â
Investigators allege that Manning coordinated the fictitious sale of a multi-million dollar property in Kissimmee. According to investigators, Manning advised that she was going to broker the sale of the property to an international investor and needed to secure money for a bridge loan until the investor had arranged for financing. The victims were led to believe that if they invested in the bridge loan they would receive their principal investment plus 30 percent within three months. The victims in this case reside in Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, Florida.
Authorities believe there may be other victims, and anyone with related information should contact local law enforcement.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, in conjunction with my Office of Statewide Prosecution and the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “I am extremely proud of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office for their thorough investigation into Manning’s deceptive practices. I am pleased to have my Office of Statewide Prosecution bring long-deserved justice to this case. This case is another great example of strong partnerships to protect consumers from fraud.”
Terrence Ezekiel Paulin, 47, Ashland, Kentucky, pled guilty to investment fraud during a federal court session in Great Falls, Montana, on June 7, 2012, before U.S. District Judge Sam E. Haddon. Sentencing has been set for September 14, 2012. He is currently detained.
In an Offer of Proof, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
During late 2007 or early 2008, Shawn Swor was a mortgage broker in Missoula, . 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 Group as 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 are awaiting sentencing.
Paulin faces possible penalties of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and 3 years supervised release.
The United States Attorney’s Office announced the guilty plea.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service.
Jack R. Coppenger, Jr., 49, Akron, Ohio, is the subject of a two-count criminal information charging him for his roles in a mortgage fraud scheme that resulted in losses of approximately $36 million.
More than 40 people have been charged for their roles in the mortgage fraud schemes.
Coppenger was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and to make false statements to influence a bank to make a loan in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme involving property in Florida. In the second count, Coppenger is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States by impairing and impeding the ability of the I.R.S to assess Coppenger‘s taxes in 2006 by concealing funds Coppenger received from a land “flip” conducted by Andrew Norman and Jason Herceg (previously charged), as detailed below.
Count one of the information charges that Coppenger, along with mortgage brokers Norman and Herceg, who were operating under the name of V.P. Equity LLC., and a co-conspirator known as I.O. (not charged) in procuring “straw buyers” and submitting false loan documents to banks to purchase Coppenger’s lots in Florida (which had already been inflated in value as part of a land flip) in a mortgage fraud scheme.
According to the information, Coppenger, with assistance from Herceg and Norman, perpetrated a large mortgage fraud scheme involving numerous straw buyers primarily from the Akron, Hartville, and Mentor Ohio area. These straw buyers essentially sold their good credit scores to Coppenger in order for Coppenger to secure loans, through straw buyers’ names, for properties in Florida.
Coppenger promised the straw buyers that if they signed the loan application and paperwork, Coppenger would pay them an inducement amount. Coppenger then promised the straw buyers that he would make all the mortgage payments for the property and would make any down payments that were necessary, and that, once the property was developed and sold, they would split the profits equally. On the face of it, the straw buyers would receive money up front from Coppenger, make no payments out of pocket and receive 50 percent of the profit from the sale of the property at the tail end of the transaction.
Herceg and Norman were mentored by Coppenger in the recruitment and use of straw buyers. They assisted Coppenger by using their brokerage company, V.P. Equity, located in the Stow, Ohio, area to prepare and submit falsified loan documents to various banks, which fraudulently inflated the income and assets of the straw buyers in order to qualify them for these loans. Ultimately, Coppenger failed to make the mortgage payments on these loans, resulting in a loss of approximately $36 million, according to the information.
Herceg and Norman, have been charged in separately filed informations of conspiring to defraud two elderly purchasers by selling them a piece of Florida property for $7 million. Moments before this sale, Herceg and Norman, bought the property, through their partnership, 104 Investments, from the original seller and inflated its value by approximately $2.6 million. Herceg and Norman then sold this property to these elderly purchasers, who were told that they were buying the property from the original seller. The elderly purchasers were never told of the last minute “flip”, or that they were actually buying the land from Herceg, Norman, and 104 Investments.
Herceg and Norman, and their 104 Investments business partner, Robert Jason Workman, received approximately $2.6 million from this sale which they then funneled portions of the proceeds out to themselves which included a $690,000 to Coppenger as payment for locating the property. Subsequently, Norman, Herceg, and Workman fraudulently deducted the money they gave to Coppenger as a business expense, according to the information.
Coppenger is also charged in count two of the information with conspiring with his business partner, Kathleen A. Fada-Murray, to defraud the United States by concealing from the I.R.S. their receipt of monies from the fraudulent land flip. Fada-Murray was not involved in the fraud against the elderly purchasers but was owed a return on her investment in Coppenger‘s company, SMB&A. Once Fada-Murray became aware that Coppenger had received $690,000.00 as a result of the fraud in count one, she took steps to obtain some of this money herself and conspired with Coppenger to conceal their receipt of these funds from the I.R.S. by transferring funds into and out of accounts with corporate names, and out of an account in the name of Coppenger and his wife, characterizing these funds as a repayment of a loan, and using these funds to pay for Fada-Murray‘s personal expenses, including online gambling debts, credit card payments, car payments, and federal and state taxes, as well as for personal expenses of Coppenger, including carpeting, car payments, and the payment of business expenses to keep the mortgage fraud scheme going, according to the information.
Norman‘s and Herceg‘s business partner, Workman, has also been previously charged with filing a false individual tax return for 2006 for underreporting his portion of the $690,000 received by the 104 Investments partnership, which was used to then pay Coppenger, because he took a fraudulent business deduction for his share (1/3) of these proceeds. At the time Workman received the proceeds from this transaction in 2006, he was not charged with being involved in the fraudulent scheme to defraud the elderly purchasers.
However, by the time he had filed his 2006 tax return in 2007, Workman was aware that funds paid out to Coppenger were not business expenses. Workman‘s case, as well as the cases against Norman and Herceg, have been assigned to the Honorable John Adams, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, in Akron, Ohio, and are pending sentencing.
A series of straw buyers have also been charged with a one-count information charging Conspiracy to Commit Loan Fraud and Bank Fraud. A total of 37 straw buyers have been charged to date with fraudulently securing a total of 45 individual mortgage loans which went into default and resulted in losses to financial institutions ranging from $267,013 to $1,301,958 per mortgage loan. These straw buyers were either charged, plead guilty or are pending sentencing before the Honorable Judge Adams:
Robert J. Rosenstein, Plead Guilty on 12/28/10;
Lauren May, Plead Guilty on 1/31/11;
Stanley Beekma, Plead Guilty on 4/6/11;
David Yamokoski, Plead Guilty on 4/7/11;
Robert W. Aikens, Plead Guilty on 6/8/11;
Thomas D. Duke, Plead Guilty on 6/8/11;
David G. Cannon, Plead Guilty on 9/9/11;
William T. Zamski, Plead Guilty on 9/9/11;
Charles Rankin, Plead Guilty on 8/12/11;
Charles Eppinger, Plead Guilty on 8/31/11;
Delores Matthews-Campbell, Plead Guilty on 9/9/11;
Randall R. Coblentz, Plead Guilty on 11/3/11;
Leon M. Coblentz, Plead Guilty on 10/11/11;
Thomas J. Bell, Plead Guilty on 11/3/11;
Michael C. Testa, Plead Guilty on 12/19/11;
John P. Schlabach, Plead Guilty on 12/9/11;
Matthew S. Yoder, Plead Guilty on 11/3/11;
D. Brian Bontrager, Plead Guilty on 11/3/11;
John Schlabach, Plead Guilty on 5/17/12;
Paul D. Schrock, Plead Guilty on 5/17/12;
Kevin Hunt, Plead Guilty on 12/20/11;
Gerald Nelson, Plead Guilty on 1/20/12;
Jay A. Tyree, Plead Guilty on 3/8/12;
Todd B. Miller, Plead Guilty on 5/17/12;
Timothy W. Eastgate, Plead Guilty on 3/15/12;
John G. Bontrager, Plead Guilty on 5/17/12;
M. Blaine Miller, Plead Guilty on 5/18/12;
Anthony Rockich, Plead Guilty on 4/5/12;
Michael H. Mokler, Plead Guilty on 5/18/12;
Gerald A. Williams, Plead Guilty on 5/18/12;
Christopher A. Pursley, Plead Guilty on 5/18/12;
David E. Cordi, Plead Guilty on 4/4/12;
Brian P. Eger, Plead Guilty on 5/17/12;
Todd B. Haydocy, Plead Guilty on 4/4/12;
Albert A. Susinkas, Plead Guilty on 5/18/12;
Curtis L. Coblentz, Plead Guilty on 5/21/12;
Andrew D. Norman, Plead Guilty to conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; filing false tax returns 6/22/11;
Jason Herceg, Plead Guilty to conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; filing false tax returns, 9/15/11;
Robert Jason Workman, Plead Guilty to filing a false tax return, 5/26/11;
Kathleen A. Fada-Murray, Plead Guilty to conspiracy to defraud the IRS, 9/9/11; and
William Murray, Plead Guilty to conspiracy to defraud the IRS; conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud, 9/9/11, Sentenced to two years in prison, 5/23/12.
An information is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.
Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced the charges.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christian H. Stickan and Henry F. DeBaggis, following investigation by agents of the IRS-CI and FBI, Akron Office.
David M. Sostchin, Hialeah, Florida, an attorney, was publicly reprimanded following a March 8, 2012, court order. Public reprimand is a form of public discipline which declares the conduct of the lawyer improper, but does not limit the lawyer’s right to practice. Sostchin was admitted to practice law in 1978.
Sostchin was retained to represent a client in a foreclosure proceeding in which a final order of foreclosure had already been issued and a sale date had been set. Although there were no defects in the underlying proceeding, Sostchin failed to ensure that the client was adequately informed of the status of the representation, and notwithstanding the eventual sale of the property, continued to accept monthly payments until the client ceased making payment.
Upon learning of the sale of the property, the client went to the office and demanded an explanation. The firm issued a refund check in the amount of $2,295.
Avinie Maurice Bates, III, 41, Miramar, Florida, was convicted by a jury in U.S. District Court in Panama City, Florida, on one count of wire fraud for his role in an elaborate mortgage-fraud scheme that spanned from Miami to Panama City.
Codefendants Jill Beth Newman Zuravel, 47, Boynton Beach, Florida; Alan Jay Nathan, 60, Boca Raton, Florida; Meredith Lelann King, 38, Destin, Florida; and Joann V. Walter, 56, Parkland, Florida, pled guilty in the case and testified against Bates, the final defendant.
The evidence at trial relating to the mortgage fraud scheme revealed that Bates touted himself as a real-estate investor with a Miami investment company Right Choice Housing, LLC;
Zuravel was the attorney for Right Choice Housing; Nathan owned Mortgage Bankers of America Group, Inc., a mortgage company located in Boca Raton; Walter was a mortgage broker with Mortgage Bankers of America; and King was a closing agent employed by Blue Dolphin Title, LLC, a title company located in Panama City Beach.
The evidence further showed that, in mid-2005, Bates traveled to Panama City Beach and walked into a real-estate company and said that he wanted to buy five properties in Panama City and Panama City Beach. This meeting kicked off an eight-month, mortgage-fraud spree involving ten properties. The evidence additionally showed that Bates negotiated with the sellers and entered into sales contracts to purchase the properties at one price (the “lower sales price”), and he listed the buyer on the contracts as “Right Choice Housing, LLC and/or assigns.”
For many properties, Bates, through his real estate agent, also convinced the sellers to agree to loan him money from the proceeds they were to make from the sale (the “seller loans”). Then, Bates, Zuravel, Nathan and Walter located “straw buyers”in the Miami area to give their credit information in exchange for between $10,000 and $30,000. They told these individuals that they would not be responsible for anything with the properties and that Right Choice Housing would pay all mortgage payments, taxes and other expenses related to the properties until Right Choice Housing flipped them for a quick sale.
Once the straw buyers were in place, Zuravel prepared assignment documents and addendums, which purported to assign the first sales contract to the straw buyer at a much higher price (the “higher sales price”), provided that the seller would only be paid the lower sales price, and stated that the difference between the lower and higher sales prices would go to third parties named by Right Choice Housing.
Once the assignments were made and the addendums signed by the sellers, Nathan and Walter then prepared loan applications for the straw buyers, in which they falsely inflated the straw buyers income, employment, bank-account balances, and intent to reside at the properties — all to qualify the straw buyers for millions of dollars in loans. King handled the closings in Panama City Beach, and used the difference between the lower and higher sales prices to cover the straw buyer’s required down payment. Over $1.2 million of the remainder was then wired to Bates or companies owned by him, such as Gold by Gold and Bates Enterprises.
In total, lenders gave over $9 million in mortgages to purchase nine properties in Panama City and Panama City Beach, Florida. By the end of 2006, all of mortgages were in default, and all of the properties have since been foreclosed on.
When the jury returned its verdict, the government moved that Bates, who had been on pretrial release, be taken into custody, and the Court ordered his immediate detention.
Sentencings of the five defendants have been scheduled as follows: Bates on August 8, 2012 at 9:30 a.m; Zuravel, Nathan, and Walter on June 20, 2012 at 9:30 a.m, 10:15 a.m, and 10:30 a.m. respectively; King on July 19, 2012 at 9:45 a.m. For their conduct, each defendant faces a maximum of twenty years’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, or a fine in twice the amount of the gross gain/loss, and a $100 special monetary assessment.
United States Attorney Pamela C. Marsh praised the efforts of the Florida Office of Financial Regulation – Bureau of Financial Investigations, the Florida Department of Financial Services – Division of Insurance Fraud, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which investigated this case
“Combating mortgage fraud continues to be a primary focus of the Northern District of Florida. Mortgage fraud is one of the most serious economic crimes, and it has contributed significantly to the current economic crisis,” said U.S. Attorney Marsh. “We have seen mortgage fraud schemes that resulted in dozens of foreclosures and millions of dollars in losses, as well as fraudsters who have bankrupted entire companies and national lenders who were not playing by the rules. We will continue to aggressively prosecute individuals who perpetrate these kind of devastating financial crimes against our communities.”
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gayle Littleton.
Todd Britton-Harr, 35, Perdido Key, Florida, a former real estate agent, was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of making false statements in loan and mortgage documents.
Evidence introduced in the January 2012 jury trial that led to his conviction showed that Britton-Harr, and his stepmother and co-defendant, Karyn Britton, made false statements on loan documents submitted in connection with their purchases of condominium units in the Purple Parrot Village, Perdido Key, Florida.
The couple failed to disclose known liabilities, and made false statements concerning how the condominiums would be used. Many of the condos purchased by the co-defendants have since gone into foreclosure, resulting in losses exceeding $1,000,000. Over the course of a nine-month period, Britton-Harr conducted more than a dozen real estate transactions, which netted him approximately $370,000.
In addition to the prison sentence, Britton-Harr was ordered to pay restitution. Britton-Harr remains in the custody of the United States Marshals in this case, and is also being held on federal drug trafficking charges out of the Southern District of Texas.
U.S. Attorney Pamela C. Marsh praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, whose joint investigation led to the convictions.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David L. Goldberg.