John Murphy, 63, Nesconset, New York, the former chief executive officer of Oak Rock Financial LLC, pled guilty to bank fraud before United States Magistrate Judge Gary R. Brown at the United States courthouse in Central Islip, New York.
Archives For New York
Nicholas Mussolini, 27, Williamsville, New York, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of wire fraud before U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara in connection with a fraudulent loan scheme. The charge carries a maximum penalty of a term of 20 years’ imprisonment, a term of supervised release of three years, and a fine of $250,000.
Harold L. Gruber, 60, Brooklyn, New York, an attorney, and his condominium-developer clients, Joseph Scarpinito, 59, who has a prior federal felony conviction for bank fraud, and Shiraz Sanjana, 54, have been barred pursuant to a court order from doing condo and securities-related work in New York pending the court case. The order enjoins the respondents from engaging in any act directly or indirectly relating to the offer or sale of securities (which includes coops and condos) in or from the State of New York.
Michael Rory Woods, 44, Buffalo, New York, was charged by criminal complaint with making false statements on a loan application in order to secure a refinance mortgage.
Guy Samuel, 32, Richmond Hill, New York; the co-owner of a company that purported to provide mortgage modification services, and four former employees of the company, Anthony Blackwell, 47, Manhattan, New York; Angel Gonzalez, 31, Rosedale, New York; Jonathan Lyons, 51, Rockville Center, New York; and Aren Goldfaden, 36, East Rockaway, New York, have been indicted for their alleged participation in a multimillion-dollar scheme that victimized more than 500 financially struggling homeowners across the country.
Nathan Levner, 54, Oceanside, New York, has been charged with stealing $10,000 from a couple he was representing in the purchase of a new home.
Yvonne DeBenedetto, 46, Bay Shore, New York, an attorney, has been sentenced to two to six years in prison after she pleaded guilty to stealing more than $573,000 from clients who hired her to represent them in real estate deals.
James Kalpakis, 52, Old Westbury, New York, a disbarred attorney, has pleaded guilty to the top count against him after being charged with stealing more than $4 million from multiple individuals and banks he was representing in real estate deals, including his own wife.
John Tuozzo, 48, Woodbury, New York, was sentenced by Judge Susan T. Kluewer to one to three years in prison after tricking his mother-in-law into signing various real estate documents that allowed him to steal more than $600,000 from several financial institutions and leaving her facing civil lawsuits in addition to foreclosure proceedings on a nearly $1 million home she had no idea she owned.John Tuozzo.
Theresa Sanders, a/k/a Theresa Hayes, 55, most recently of Westerville, Ohio, an attorney, Tracie Clark, 41, Wimauma, Florida, Michelle Powers, 51, DeRuyter, New York, an attorney, Steven Essig, 60, an appraiser, and Paul Sakowski, 44, both of Syracuse, New York, have been indicted for their roles in a mortgage fraud ring that operated for years and netted more than $1 million by preying upon first-time home buyers and institutional lenders.
The five defendants bilked consumers by advertising a rent-to-own opportunity in which first-time home buyers with low credit were offered the chance to own their own homes with no down payments and no closing costs. The accused then took out fraudulent loans against those properties, conned lenders into believing they were paying off underlying mortgages, and then pocketed the money. Continue Reading…