James Ragnauth, Beaumont, Texas, a defendant charged in a mortgage fraud case, who was on the run for about six weeks and apprehended on a shrimp boat in the Caribbean Sea by the U.S. Coast Guard in March 2009, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater to 37 months in federal prison. Judge Fitzwater also ordered Ragnauth to pay approximately $205,000 in
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Janet Salazar, a.k.a. Yanet Salazar, 37, Queens Village, New York, a loan officer, has been convicted of stealing the personal identity of a former client to help another client purchase a house in Brooklyn. Salazar was convicted of first-degree identity theft, third-degree unlawful possession of personal identification information and third degree criminal possession of
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Thanh Hoang, 64, Bethesda, Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to impede the IRS, arising from a scheme to conceal millions in profits earned from the purchase and sale of foreclosure properties.
According to Hoang’s plea agreement,
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Edward Levinson, 50, Chesterfield, Missouri, pled guilty to bank fraud charges in connection with his construction business, resulting in more than $14 million in losses to banks and prospective home owners and subcontractors.
As previously reported on Mortgage Fraud Blog, according to the indictment, Continue Reading...
BernardB. Kerik, 54, former Commissioner of the New York City Police Department and the Department of Corrections, pleaded guilty in White Plains federal court to eight felonies, two of which were separately charged in an Indictment in the District of Columbia.
Kerik pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing and impeding the due
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Felix Pichardo, 27, Lancaster, California was sentenced to eight years in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution of $777,000 in relation to a mortgage fraud scheme in which he “purchased” homes in Altadena and Riverside, California. Pichardo pleaded
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Hugh Zuber, 39, Monsey, New York, a lawyer formerly employed by the Office of the Corporation Counsel for the City of New York, pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud arising from his participation in schemes to defraud two former clients. Zuber had represented the clients, in a personal capacity, in connection with their sale of real estate to Continue Reading...
Ethan Ellner, 54, Plainview, New York, pleaded guilty to three counts of Grand Larceny 2nd degree, one count of Conspiracy 4th degree and one count of Scheme to Defraud 1st degree on charges stemming from the indictment wherein Ellner, George Guldi, a former Suffolk County Legislator and others were charged with grand larceny,
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Gavin Gee, director of the Idaho Department of Finance, announced the signing of an updated agreement to cooperatively work with other state mortgage regulators in overseeing the activities of state-licensed mortgage companies operating across state lines.
Gee said that all 50 state mortgage regulators, as well as regulators from the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have signed a Nationwide Cooperative Agreement
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Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz, joined by U.S. Senator Harry Reid, Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, and Assistant Attorney General Tony West of the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, announced Operation Stolen Hope as part of a continuing federal-state crackdown on mortgage foreclosure rescue and loan modification scams. The operation involves 118 actions by 26 federal and state agencies.
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