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.
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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…
Gershon Barkany, 29, Woodmere, New York, pleaded guilty at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, to wire fraud in connection with his role in a $62 million real estate ponzi scheme.
John Nazarian, Saratoga County, New York, has been indicted and charged with aiding and abetting bank fraud for his alleged role in a mortgage fraud scheme.
Seth Beoku Betts, 37, Boynton Beach, Florida, a principal of Betts and Gambles Global Equities, LLC, was arrested on the charge of wire fraud for operating an investment scheme whereby he promised investors funds would be used for the purposes of trading in collateralized mortgage obligations.