Howard Goldsmith, real estate developer, 41, Raleigh, North Carolina, was sentenced to a 30 month term of imprisonment for his role in a down payment fraud scheme. According to documents filed in Court, between August of 2006 and February of 2009, Goldsmith and his conspirators carried out a fraud upon various banks and lenders using entities Goldsmith owned or controlled, including Ganyard Farm Construction and Baldwin Estates. Continue Reading…
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Edward Dacy, 77, most recently of West Melbourne, Florida, was sentenced to six years in prison on charges stemming from a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud investment scheme involving 45 properties and $16 million in mortgage loans used for the purchase of residential real estate in the District of Columbia and Maryland.
Dacy was found guilty on March 25, 2015, following a trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, of 10 counts of conspiracy, bank fraud, and mail fraud. His conviction completes a three-year investigation relating to this mortgage fraud scheme. A total of nine individuals have admitted their guilt through guilty pleas or were found guilty after trial. Upon completion of his prison term, Dacy will be placed on three years of supervised release. In addition, Judge Walton ordered that he pay $2,730,345 in restitution and an identical amount as a forfeiture money judgment. Continue Reading…
Brett Depue, 42, Gilbert, Arizona, was convicted following a four-day jury trial, and 1½ days of deliberations, of one count of conspiracy to commit mail, bank and wire fraud, and seven counts wire fraud in connection with a Las Vegas mortgage fraud scheme. Depue was remanded to custody and sentencing is scheduled for November 9 at 9:00 a.m. Depue‘s previous conviction on mortgage fraud charges was overturned by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
“We are pleased that a second jury determined that Mr. Depue had committed fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden. “There were over 100 homes used as part of this conspiracy to defraud the financial institutions of millions.” Continue Reading…
Alberic Okou Agodio, 30, Bethesda, Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, arising from a mortgage fraud scheme. He used the names of immigrants and students, along with false financial information, to obtain approximately $3.8 million in home mortgage loans. He bought approximately three dozen row houses in Baltimore, all of which are in default or foreclosure. Continue Reading…
George Dravilas, real estate broker, 37, Medinah, Illinois, was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme involving a pair of Chicago apartment buildings. Dravilas pled guilty in February to one count of bank fraud. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman ordered Dravilas to pay $463,110 in restitution. Dravilas will begin serving his sentence no later than Sept. 21, 2015. Continue Reading…
Stavroula Mendez, 68, real estate developer, was sentenced to 135 months in prison; Lazaro Mendez, 42, real estate developer, was sentenced to 108 months in prison; and Marie Mendez, 49, real estate developer, was sentenced to 57 months in prison in connection with their roles in a mortgage fraud scheme that caused losses of $27.8 million. U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz of the Southern District of Florida also ordered each of the defendants to forfeit $35,252,331 in fraudulent proceeds and to pay $21,240,064 in restitution. In November 2014, all three defendants were convicted of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy. Eleven other co-conspirators were previously convicted of fraud in connection with the scheme. Continue Reading…
Nicholas Tarsia, Jr., 67, Totowa, New Jersey, was sentenced to 60 months in prison for conspiring to launder money as part of a $15 million mortgage fraud scam that used phony documents and straw buyers to make illegal profits on overbuilt condos.
Daniel Cardillo, 51, Wildwood, New Jersey, admitted defrauding a financial institution as part of a mortgage fraud scam that used phony documents and straw buyers to make illegal profits on over-developed condominiums.
Aleksandr Kravchenko, 36, King County, Washington, who fled to Moldova, in Eastern Europe before being indicted by a federal grand jury for 55 loans fraudulently obtained from Westsound Bank, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Seattle to five years in prison.