Archives For fraudlent tax returns

Man Charged With Wire And Bank Fraud Offenses

Stephanie Abbott —  September 13, 2022 — Leave a comment

James John Melis, 52, Largo, Florida has been indicted on four counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud, and three counts of aggravated identity theft.

The indictment charges Melis with carrying out a mortgage origination fraud scheme against a financial institution for two properties he owned. To deceive the mortgage lender into believing he was a qualified borrower, Melis used the personal identification information of another person on loan applications, and prepared and submitted false and fraudulent IRS income tax returns, fictitious satisfactions of mortgages falsely representing that his properties had equity, and lease agreements falsely showing he received substantial rental income. As part of this scheme, Melis used the means of identification of other individuals and forged their signatures on the fictitious satisfactions of mortgage and phony lease agreements submitted to the mortgage lender. Based on Melis’ misrepresentations, the financial institution approved and funded both mortgage loans.

Separately, Melis abused his position as business manager at a private school in Tampa by attaching his personal bank account to the school’s PayPal account without authorization. When parents made tuition payments to the school’s account, Melis initiated fraudulent electronic funds transfers to his personal account. He then spent the stolen funds on travel and luxury items, such as jewelry.

If convicted, Melis faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud count, 30 years for each bank fraud count, and a consecutive mandatory penalty of 2 years’ imprisonment for the aggravated identity theft counts.  The indictment also notifies Melis that the United States is seeking an order of forfeiture in the amount of $1.1 million, the proceeds of the charged criminal conduct.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg made the announcement

This case was investigated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency – Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  It will be prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Chris Poor.

 

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Pennsylvania CPA Charged in New Jersey Mortgage Fraud

Rachel Dollar —  October 6, 2016 — 1 Comment

Barry E. Horrow was charged by information in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania with four counts of bank fraud and one count of aiding and abetting.

The information alleges that Horrow was a CPA who owned and operated Horrow and Associates, first in Delaware County and then in Chester County, Pennsylvania.  From January 2005 through March 2013, George Barnard and David Fili, Jr. (both of whom were charged separately), began operating Capital Financial Mortgage Corp (“CFMC”) first as a mortgage brokerage and later as a direct mortgage lender.  Barnard also had a direct or indirect ownership interest in various title companies, including PA/NJ Abstract, Inc. dba East Coast Land Transfer, PANJ Land Transfer LLC, Tri-State Land Transfer LLC, Nationwide Land Transfer LLC, Atlantic Closing Services LLC and Gulf Coast Land Transfer Inc. CFMC and the title companies were clients of Horrow and Horrow prepared financial statements and the personal tax returns of Barnard and the corporate tax returns of CFMC and the title companies. The financial statements Horrow prepared for Barnard and CFMC were false. Horrow purported to conduct audits of CFMC and issued audit reports that he knew were being submitted to lenders to help secure loans for CFMC and Barnard when, in fact, he did not conduct any true audits and knew the audit reports were false.

The information further alleges that, in order to qualify for a loans to purchase homes at 221 65th Street, Avalon, New Jersey, 39 E. 25th Street, Avalon, New Jersey, and 670 First Avenue, Avalon, New Jersey, Barnard prepared and submitted various documents, including documents Barnard knew were false, in order to falsely inflate his income and cause the bank to believe his cash flow and net worth were greater than they were. The false documents included false tax returns prepared by Horrow.

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Loan Fraud Gets Minnesota Man 57 Months

Rachel Dollar —  November 17, 2015 — Leave a comment

Solomon Gordon Raymond, also known as Paul Anthony Raymond, 54, Golden Valley, Minnesota, was sentenced to 57 months in custody for lying to banks on a series of business loan applications he used to take almost $500,000.

In addition to punishing Raymond for his fraudulent crimes, U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez increased Raymond’s sentence for the lies he told during testimony at his May 2015 trial. During the hearing, Judge Benitez described the defendant as “one of the worst con men I have ever seen.” Raymond was taken into custody at today’s sentencing hearing to immediately begin serving his sentence. Continue Reading…

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Mortgage Broker Sentenced for False Loan Application Statements

Rachel Dollar —  November 5, 2015 — 1 Comment

Valeri Kalyuzhnyy, 44, Citrus Heights, California, was sentenced to 2 years in prison.

On June 25, 2015, Kalyuzhnyy pleaded guilty to making a false statement on a loan application. According to court documents, Kalyuzhnyy, while working as a mortgage broker, bought two homes using the credit information of a straw buyer. The loan applications that were used to secure the properties contained numerous false statements regarding the buyer’s intent to occupy the property, employer, occupation, and monthly income. In order to support the inflated monthly income listed on the loan application, fraudulent tax returns were submitted. On July 17, 2007, Kalyuzhnyy gave the straw buyer a check for $29,000.

United States District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. sentenced Kalyuzhnyy. The case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jared C. Dolan prosecuted the case.

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