A large percentage of homeowners now owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Many are unable to make their mortgage payments because of reduced incomes or payment increases on adjustable rate mortgages. Unfortunately, this situation has spawned a cottage industry of loan modification scammers waiting to prey on unsuspecting victims who are looking for a lifeline to save their homes.
Some unscrupulous businesses make unrealistic promises about their
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While the national Mortgage Fraud Risk Index, still elevated at 140 (n=100), remains essentially flat from both the previous quarter and from a year ago, increases in fraud in the Chicago area may illustrate the danger of previously localized risks spreading throughout a metropolitan area according to Interthinx’s Q4 2010 Mortgage Fraud Risk Report.
• Illinois, with a jump of 26 points, saw the largest
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Akinola George, 40, Washington, D.C., has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of bank fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit bank/mail fraud in a scheme that led to $2.4 million in losses.
The seven-count indictment, unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that George
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Richard Novak, 47, Middletown, Connecticut, pleaded guilty before Chief United States District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford to one count of making a false statement on a federal mortgage loan document.
This matter stems from an investigation into an extensive mortgage fraud scheme headed by Syed Babar and others during which participants obtained residential real
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Christopher M. Chiavola, 32, Chico, California, pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Edward J. Garcia to one count of mail fraud and one count of money laundering in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme allegedly orchestrated by co-defendant, Garret Griffith Gililland III.
According to the plea
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Diane H. Frederick Atari, 43, Ashburn, Virginia, who fled the United States after being indicted in July 2009 for a mortgage fraud scheme, has been extradited from Turkey, completing a years-long effort by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office and the Virginia Office of the Attorney General to bring her to justice. Atari is charged with fraudulently fixing her clients’ credit and
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James Dan, 46, Annapolis, Maryland, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz to a year and a day in prison followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme which promised to help homeowners facing foreclosure keep their homes, but left them homeless and with no equity. Judge Motz also ordered that Continue Reading...
Joseph Sindaco, 63, an attorney from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been sentenced on a mail fraud charge in connection with his embezzlement of funds from clients’ trust account. U.S. District Judge James Cohn sentenced Sindaco to 48 months in prison and ordered him to pay more than $3,879,896 in restitution to the victims. Continue Reading...
Giuseppe Cracchiolo, 60, Romeo, Michigan, was sentenced for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme to six months’ imprisonment, followed by three years’ supervised release.
United States District Judge George Caram Steeh also ordered Cracchiolo to serve an additional six months’ home confinement and pay restitution of $1,654,500 to numerous financial institutions. In September
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Michael Douglas Conley, 28, Oakdale, Calfornia, who lied on documents allowing him to buy a home in Dry Fork, Virginia, pled guilty to making false statements or declarations to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Conley waived his right to be indicted and pled guilty to an Information charging him with one count of making false and fraudulent
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