Jeremy Michael “Mike” Head, 34, Huntington Beach, California, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a nationwide foreclosure rescue scam. The case began on February 28, 2008, when a grand jury indicted Mike Head, his brother Charles Head, and 14 other defendants with violations of mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and other charges. Eleven of Heads co-defendants have entered guilty pleas.
Mark Nagy Atalla, a defendant in a 2013 Federal Trade Commission action targeting deceptive mortgage and debt relief pitches, is the subject of a Southern California federal district court judgment of nearly $515,000.
Dinesh Valjeebhai Shah, 65, was sentenced to seven years in state prison for conspiring with three other family members to commit over $16 million in real estate fraud by forging documents and purchasing homes using straw buyers.
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.
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.
Gernot Sebastian Zepernick, Concord, California real estate investor has agreed to plead guilty for his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California.
Anthony Keslinke was charge by superseding indictment in a scheme involving short sale mortgage fraud. The defendant allegedly used straw buyers to purchase real estate throughout Northern California.
Julie Dianne Farmer, 46, Bakersfield, California, was sentenced by United States District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill to three years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for her involvement in an extensive mortgage fraud scheme that ran from January 2004 to September 2007.
Jesse Wheeler, 37, Roseville, California, Jewel Hinkles, aka Cydney Sanchez, 64, Los Angeles, California, Cynthia Corn, 61, Oakland, California, and Brent Medearis, 48, Modesto, California, were sentenced on September 29, 2014, by U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb for their roles in a foreclosure rescue scam.
