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  • November 30, 1999

Archives For November 30, 1999

Eleven Year Sentence for Mortgage Fraud Orchestrator

Rachel Dollar —  September 25, 2015 — Leave a comment

Hector Hernandez, 57, Miami, Florida, the owner and operator of Great Country Mortgage Bankers (Great Country), a mortgage lender in Miami, Florida, was sentenced to serve 135 months in prison  for conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution for orchestrating a $64 million mortgage fraud scheme.  He was also ordered to pay $64,508,141 in restitution and to forfeit $8,000,000 in illicit profits.

In the same case, a real estate developer for Great Country, Aleida Fontao, 62, Miami, Florida, was sentenced to serve 41 months in prison, and ordered to pay $7,131,952 in restitution and $400,000 in forfeiture.  An underwriter for Great Country, Olga Hernandez, 59, Lake Mary, Florida, was sentenced to serve 51 months in prison and ordered to pay $24,512,755 in restitution.  Hector and Olga Hernandez both pleaded guilty on July 13, 2015, while Fontao pleaded guilty on July 7, 2015.  Hector Hernandez was the last defendant to be sentenced in the case.  All 24 defendants charged in this case, which included loan officers, loan processors and underwriters, were convicted of participating in the scheme. Continue Reading…

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Spiritual Help Through Mortgage Elimination Scheme?

Rachel Dollar —  September 25, 2015 — 1 Comment

John Michael DiChiara, 57, Nevada City, California; James C. Castle, 51, formerly of Santa Rosa, California; Remus A. Kirkpatrick, 58, formerly of Oceanside, California; George B. Larsen, 54, formerly of San Rafael, California; Laura Pezzi, 59, Roseville, California; Larry Todt, 63, formerly of Malibu, California; and Michael Romano, 68, Benicia, California, were charged by a federal grand jury in a 42-count indictment, with conspiracy, bank fraud, false making of documents, and money laundering in connection with a mortgage elimination scheme. Tisha Trites, 49, San Diego, California and Todd Smith, 44, San Diego, California, pleaded guilty to related charges before U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. on September 4, 2015.

DiChiara was arrested in Cool, California. Pezzi and Romano were arrested at their homes. The other four defendants listed in the indictment have yet to be arrested. Continue Reading…

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West Virginia Man Sentenced for Inflating Income on Loan Application

Rachel Dollar —  September 25, 2015 — 1 Comment

Steven A. Crites, 44, Martinsburg, West Virginia, was sentenced to one day in prison followed by one year of supervised release for making a false statement on a loan application.

Crites applied for a loan with Wells Fargo Bank and falsely indicated that his monthly income was $29,000. In fact, his monthly income was $2,833.33. He pled guilty in March 21015 to one count of “False Statement on Loan Application.”

United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced the sentence.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Camilletti prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Federal Bureau of Investigation led the inquiry.

Chief U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh presided.

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Guilty Plea in $30M Low-Income Housing Fraud

Rachel Dollar —  September 24, 2015 — Leave a comment

Matthew Greer, 37, former CEO of Carlisle Development Group, Miami Beach, pled guilty  before United States District Court Judge Ursula Ungaro to two counts of conspiracy to commit theft of government money, in connection with a scheme to steal government funds intended for the construction of low-income housing. Greer participated in a $30 million fraud scheme involving ten low-income housing developments

According to court documents, including the factual proffer in support of the defendant’s plea, Matthew Greer and Lloyd Boggio served, at alternating times, as CEO of Carlisle Development Group (CDG), a low-income housing developer in Miami, Florida. CDG applied for federal tax credits and federal grant monies to build low-income housing developments through a program administered by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC). To obtain these federal funds, FHFC required developers to submit proposed development costs, including a construction contract signed by the developer and contractor. Continue Reading…

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Short Sale Rescue Fraud Scheme Indicted in Nevada

Rachel Dollar —  September 23, 2015 — 2 Comments

Christopher Nelson, 46, Henderson, Nevada, and Niket Kulkarni, 38, Los Angeles, California were indicted by the Clark County, Nevada, Grand Jury, along with Thomas J. Adams,  Robyn D. Reese, and James Sheridan Reese, in connection with a short sale rescue fraud scheme. The charges include racketeering, pattern of mortgage lending fraud, theft, theft from a person over the age of 60, and failure to place a mortgage fee of over $1,000 in escrow. The defendants operated their business, the American Equity Foundation, between July 2012 and May 2013.

According to the indictment, the defendants are accused of soliciting customers to participate in a short sale program purportedly associated with the federal government called the Neighborhood Stabilization Plan. Defendants falsely represented to their clients that their business could facilitate the short sales of customers’ homes to investors. Clients were also told that they could then lease their homes from the investors for two to four years, before having the opportunity to repurchase those homes at a cost of 90-100% of the home’s market value. Through these representations, the defendants are alleged to have unlawfully obtained more than $133,000 from their clients.

Continue Reading…

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Appeals court upholds Regina Preetorius’ conviction in real estate scam

A former Augusta-area businesswoman was fairly tried and sentenced to more than 23 years in prison for a massive fraud based on a phony mortgage rescue operation, an appeals court has declared.

In a six-page opinion released Wednes­day, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Regina Preetor­ius’ convictions for mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

 Posted by Rachel Dollar  onSeptember 21, 2015 In Mortgage Fraud
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Real Estate Broker

Sentence in Florida Condo Conversion Scheme

Rachel Dollar —  September 21, 2015 — Leave a comment

Brendan Bolger, 41, Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced to two years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit bank, wire, and mail fraud in connection with a Condo Conversion Scheme. The Court also entered a forfeiture money judgment in the amount of $13,641,197.90, which represents the fraud perpetrated on the mortgage lenders. Bolger pleaded guilty on August 20, 2014.

According to court documents, in 2005, entities controlled by co-conspirators entered into a contract to purchase The Arbors, an apartment complex in Hillsborough County, Florida. The new owners of The Arbors then engaged in a plan to convert the complex from rental apartments to condominiums. The developers financed their purchase of The Arbors with a loan from Corus Bank, a financial institution whose deposits were insured by the FDIC. The Corus loan agreement set forth substantial financial penalties for the developers if they failed to satisfy the loan requirements. Continue Reading…

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Man extradited from Spain over $20 million Detroit real estate scheme

A New York man charged in a $20 million telemarketing scheme that involved Detroit homes has been extradited from Spain, federal officials announced Friday.

Erez Arsoni is among 16 people accused in federal court of luring 290 victims in 46 states and Canada into a fraudulent investment operation focused on low-cost Detroit real estate.

Arsoni left the country before charges were issued in September 2014.

 Posted by Rachel Dollar  onSeptember 21, 2015 In Mortgage Fraud
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Newman man gets prison for real estate scam

Ralph Leyva pleaded no contest to three counts of grand theft and one count of burglary. The defendant, who had no previous criminal history, received the maximum prison sentence and was ordered to pay full restitution to the victims.

Prosecutors said Leyva solicited money from two victims under the false pretenses that he was selling them bulk foreclosed properties owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at a 30 percent discounted price. The victims believed that the sales were being facilitated by California R.E.O. Services, LLC, which Leyva operated out of a Fresno address.

 

 Posted by Rachel Dollar  onSeptember 21, 2015 In Mortgage Fraud
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Copyright lawyer for litigious porn studio hit with bank fraud charges

Porn studio Malibu Media files a lot of copyright lawsuits—more than any other entity in the US. In all, the company has filed more than 4,300 lawsuits since 2009, according to a report by Lex Machina. Malibu relies on a network of attorneys in several states to sue thousands of Internet users for downloading Malibu’s pornographic movies.

Now, one of the main figures behind the litigation, attorney Paul Nicoletti, is in trouble with the law. This summer, Nicoletti was indicted on four charges of bank fraud, stemming from real estate deals he did back in 2005. The charges were unsealed three weeks ago and published on Saturday by the blog Fight Copyright Trolls.

 Posted by Rachel Dollar  onSeptember 18, 2015 In Mortgage Fraud
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