James Hurst Miller Jr., 67, Paso Robles, California, the former president of the Atascadero-based Hurst Financial Corporation, to 84 months in federal prison for misappropriating millions of dollars that victims invested in Central Coast real estate projects and for helping a real estate developer defraud a bank.
Miller’s case is related to that of Kelly Gearhart, a former Central Coast real estate developer, who was sentenced in July to 14 years in federal prison. Continue Reading…
Peter Kuzmenko, 37, West Sacramento, California, was sentenced to 19 years in prison; Aaron New, 41, Sacramento, California, was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison; Nadia Kuzmenko, 36, formerly of Loomis, California, was sentenced to eight years in prison; and Edward Shevtsov, 51, North Highlands, California, was sentenced to eight years in prison for their involvement in a mortgage fraud scheme that cost financial institutions approximately $16 million.
On February 13, 2015, after a 21-day trial, a federal jury found the four defendants guilty of multiple counts of mail and wire fraud associated with their involvement in the mortgage fraud scheme. In addition, Peter Kuzmenko, Edward Shevtsov, and Aaron New were found guilty of money laundering associated with the scheme, and Nadia Kuzmenko was found guilty of witness tampering. Continue Reading…
Eliseo Jara Jr., 36, Bakersfield, California, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud, and was ordered to pay $4.3 million in restitution. Sergio Jara, 34, Bakersfield, California, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud, and was ordered to pay $3,249,624 in restitution. Melissa Rochelle Jara, 34, Bakersfield, California, was sentenced to time served and five years on supervised release for wire fraud, and was ordered to pay $271,171 in restitution. The Jaras were also ordered to forfeit their interests in six properties in Bakersfield, a 2007 Lexus, and approximately $110,419 seized from a bank account, and to pay personal forfeiture money judgments of $5,664,250 as to Eliseo Jara, $4,743,500 as to Sergio Jara, and $534,750 as to Melissa Jara. Prior to sentencing, Sergio and Melissa Jara also deposited approximately $148,000 with the Court toward their restitution obligations. Continue Reading…
Elizabeth Calderon, 39, Salinas, California, and Esther Sanchez, also known as Trinidad Carrillo, 54, Salinas, California, were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of filing false tax returns, theft of government funds, aggravated identity theft, making false statements to federally insured institutions, and conspiracy,
Calderon and Sanchez are charged with conspiring to submit a loan application to Bank of America that contained false information and was supported by counterfeited documents. According to the indictment, beginning on or about November 24, 2010, and continuing to the present, Calderon has been a professional tax return preparer and many of the charges against Calderon arise from this tax work Continue Reading…
Paul Sloane Davis, 76, Santa Rosa, California, was sentenced to 36 months in prison and ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution, for a Ponzi scheme he perpetrated along with co-defendant Diane Cobb, 58, currently a resident of the State of Ohio. The sentencing follows a guilty plea in which Davis admitted to running a fraudulent scheme. Court documents establish that Davis and Cobb profited by more than a million dollars.
Davis was charged by indictment on October 31, 2013, for his part in the scheme. According to the indictment, Davis and Cobb operated a financial services company in Marin County known as DM Financial. Through DM Financial, Davis and Cobb offered investors the opportunity to fund purported short-term “bridge loans” to borrowers who, according to Davis and Cobb, needed short-term financing for residential real estate transactions. The defendants fraudulently provided to these investors, among other things, the identity of the purported borrower, a promissory note reflecting the amount and terms of the loan, and a deed of trust securing the loan to the borrower’s real property. Based upon these documents and other representations made by Davis and Cobb, the investors believed the defendants were directing the funds into secured loans with borrowers. Continue Reading…
A 31-year-old Costa Mesa woman could be sentenced to federal prison today for running a foreclosure rescue fraud scheme that targeted homeowners with bogus promises of mortgage relief.
Najia Jalan faces between two and six years behind bars following her July guilty plea in Los Angeles to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft charges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Four people who worked at a Rancho Cucamonga business that offered bogus loan modification programs to thousands of financially distressed homeowners were sentenced to federal prison, with one of the leaders of the scheme being ordered to spend 20 years in custody. Victims of the scheme lost more than $7 million when they paid for services that were never provided. The telemarketing operation that was known under a series of names, including 21st Century Legal Services, Inc., bilked more than 4,000 homeowners across the nation, many of whom lost their homes to foreclosure.
The defendants sentenced were: Continue Reading…
Tony Huy Havens, 42, Modesto, California, pleaded guilty mail fraud and wire fraud in advance fee and straw buyers mortgage fraud schemes.
According to court documents, in the first scheme Havens devised an “advance fee” scheme that targeted victims in at least eight states who were seeking multimillion dollar loans for large construction projects that were in danger of foreclosure. Havens provided the victims with fraudulent documents that showed a third-party lender was prepared to make a loan to the victim. On Havens’ instructions, the victims wired money into a bank account controlled by Havens to pay in advance certain costs associated with the loans. No loans were ever made. In total, Havens represented that he could arrange at least $1.1 billion in financing for at least 15 victim borrowers and collected at least $248,750 by wire transfers from them. Continue Reading…
John Michael DiChiara, 57, Nevada City, California; James C. Castle, 51, formerly of Santa Rosa, California; Remus A. Kirkpatrick, 58, formerly of Oceanside, California; George B. Larsen, 54, formerly of San Rafael, California; Laura Pezzi, 59, Roseville, California; Larry Todt, 63, formerly of Malibu, California; and Michael Romano, 68, Benicia, California, were charged by a federal grand jury in a 42-count indictment, with conspiracy, bank fraud, false making of documents, and money laundering in connection with a mortgage elimination scheme. Tisha Trites, 49, San Diego, California and Todd Smith, 44, San Diego, California, pleaded guilty to related charges before U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. on September 4, 2015.
DiChiara was arrested in Cool, California. Pezzi and Romano were arrested at their homes. The other four defendants listed in the indictment have yet to be arrested. Continue Reading…
Ped Abghari, a/k/a “Ted Allen,” 38, Irvine, California, and Justin Romano, 41, of Blue Point, New York, pled guilty for their roles in orchestrating a massive mortgage modification scheme that collectively defrauded over 8,000 homeowners out of over $18.5 million. Abghari and Romano each pled guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and Abghari also pled guilty to misprision of a felony. Romano pled on September 14, 2015, and Abghari pled on September 15, 2015, before U.S. District Judge. John F. Keenan. Continue Reading…
