Kathryn Sylvester, San Diego, California, was sentenced to 41 months in custody for operating a large-scale mortgage fraud scheme that caused over $6 million in losses on various properties in San Diego and Orange Counties, California. Sylvester promised straw buyers that she would flip a number of the properties for a quick profit. Instead, she systematically drained equity from the properties for her own benefit.
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Hubert Rotteveel, 52, Dixon, California, was convicted by a federal jury of one count of mail fraud affecting a financial institution relating to his role in a mortgage fraud scheme. The defendant and his conspirators inflated the values of 13 properties then worked with loan officers to provide false information to lenders about the income and liabilities of the buyers.
Reyna Peinado, 48, Huntington Beach, California, an auctioneer who defrauded banks by accepting bribes to lower the amount of winning bids in trustee auctions, was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison.
Alan Tikal, 46, Brentwood, California, was found guilty after a one-day bench trial on stipulated facts by United States District Judge Troy L. Nunley of 11 counts of mail fraud and one count of money laundering. Tikal targeted struggling homeowners, many of whom did not speak English, and promised them that their outstanding mortgage debt would be reduced by 75 percent, among other misrepresentations.
Christopher Jackson, 46, Elk Grove, California, was sentenced to 30 years in prison; Michael Bolden, 60, Sacramento, California, was sentenced to 20 years in prison; and Victor Alvarado, 53, Sacramento, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for their roles in the Diversified Management Consultants real estate Ponzi scheme. .
Charles Head, 40, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (formerly of Los Angeles and Orange County, California), was sentenced by United States District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller to 35 years in prison for his role in a scheme whereby victims were fraudulently led to complete transactions that substituted straw buyers for the victim homeowners on the titles of properties without the homeowners’ knowledge. .
Anna Sorokina Kuzmenko, 33, Sacramento, California, was convicted by a federal jury after a nine-day trial of two counts of wire fraud in a mortgage fraud scheme for her role in acting as a straw buyer for two loans.
Soo Kyung Hong, aka Maria Hong, 48, Los Angeles, California, was sentenced to three years in federal prison for orchestrating a scheme that led to the fraudulent purchase of four properties worth more than $2 million.
Kevin Patrick Sluga, 60, and his wife, Leslie Sluga, 57, Bakersfield, California, have been sentenced for their roles in the Crisp & Cole mortgage fraud scheme wherein the defendants and other individuals defrauded lenders by causing materially false and fraudulent statements to be submitted in mortgage loan applications and related documents to obtain loans from lenders for property purchases.
Bonnie Lynn Recinos, aka Bonnie Farr, 54, Mesa, Arizona, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud for her role in soliciting investors in various real estate projects then misappropriating their funds for her personal use.