James Hurst Miller Jr., 67, Paso Robles, California, the former president of the Atascadero-based Hurst Financial Corporation, to 84 months in federal prison for misappropriating millions of dollars that victims invested in Central Coast real estate projects and for helping a real estate developer defraud a bank.
Miller’s case is related to that of Kelly Gearhart, a former Central Coast real estate developer, who was sentenced in July to 14 years in federal prison. Continue Reading…
Peter Kuzmenko, 37, West Sacramento, California, was sentenced to 19 years in prison; Aaron New, 41, Sacramento, California, was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison; Nadia Kuzmenko, 36, formerly of Loomis, California, was sentenced to eight years in prison; and Edward Shevtsov, 51, North Highlands, California, was sentenced to eight years in prison for their involvement in a mortgage fraud scheme that cost financial institutions approximately $16 million.
On February 13, 2015, after a 21-day trial, a federal jury found the four defendants guilty of multiple counts of mail and wire fraud associated with their involvement in the mortgage fraud scheme. In addition, Peter Kuzmenko, Edward Shevtsov, and Aaron New were found guilty of money laundering associated with the scheme, and Nadia Kuzmenko was found guilty of witness tampering. Continue Reading…
Eliseo Jara Jr., 36, Bakersfield, California, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud, and was ordered to pay $4.3 million in restitution. Sergio Jara, 34, Bakersfield, California, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud, and was ordered to pay $3,249,624 in restitution. Melissa Rochelle Jara, 34, Bakersfield, California, was sentenced to time served and five years on supervised release for wire fraud, and was ordered to pay $271,171 in restitution. The Jaras were also ordered to forfeit their interests in six properties in Bakersfield, a 2007 Lexus, and approximately $110,419 seized from a bank account, and to pay personal forfeiture money judgments of $5,664,250 as to Eliseo Jara, $4,743,500 as to Sergio Jara, and $534,750 as to Melissa Jara. Prior to sentencing, Sergio and Melissa Jara also deposited approximately $148,000 with the Court toward their restitution obligations. Continue Reading…
Former NFL football star Irving Fryar just finished his first week in a New Jersey state prison after a bitter court battle led to a guilty verdict in a $1.2 million mortgage scam.
But his next big fight – his restitution – looms.
On Nov. 9 state Superior Court Judge Jeanne T. Covert will hold a hearing in Mount Holly to determine how much Fryar must pay to the banks that he and mortgage broker William Barksdale victimized in late 2009 and early 2010 with the assistance of Fryar’s mother.
Brazilian Arnaldo Prado flew into Miami for Easter weekend to visit with his mother on exclusive Fisher Island. Prado had made the trip many times before, but this one would be different.
More than a dozen FBI agents arrested him and his mother, Maura Lopes, on charges of participating in a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme along with four others — including the mother’s ex-husband, who is Prado’s former stepfather.
Joe and Teresa Giudice’s gilded Montville Township mansion is almost as much a character on “Real Housewives of New Jersey” as the reality TV stars themselves — but for how much longer?
Joe and his four daughters continue to live in the mansion while Teresa is in federal prison, and they taped their three-part Bravo special “Real Housewives of New Jersey: Teresa Checks In” there. But a Superior Court judge in Morris County has rejected the couple’s attempt to contest foreclosure on the over-the-top home and granted summary judgment in favor of the mortgage holders, Community Bank of Bergen County
Angela M. Blythe, attorney, 51, Oakland, Maryland, was convicted by a federal jury of conspiring to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and two counts of making a false statement to a bank. Blythe was an attorney licensed to practice in Maryland and West Virginia, with an office in Oakland, Maryland. She was a settlement attorney in real estate transactions.
According to evidence presented at the nine day trial, from 2000 to 2006, Blythe prepared deeds, mortgages and notes using false identities provided by her co-conspirator. Blythe recorded those fraudulent documents in Garrett County, Maryland and Preston County, West Virginia, which concealed her co-conspirator’s ownership of the properties. On at least seven occasions, Blythe also conducted property settlements in which her co-conspirator participated as buyer, seller and/or borrower using the false identities, which Blythe concealed from the lenders. Blythe failed to conduct the settlement transactions as described on the settlement statements and paid over the seller’s proceeds as her co-conspirator directed. Continue Reading…
Elizabeth Calderon, 39, Salinas, California, and Esther Sanchez, also known as Trinidad Carrillo, 54, Salinas, California, were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of filing false tax returns, theft of government funds, aggravated identity theft, making false statements to federally insured institutions, and conspiracy,
Calderon and Sanchez are charged with conspiring to submit a loan application to Bank of America that contained false information and was supported by counterfeited documents. According to the indictment, beginning on or about November 24, 2010, and continuing to the present, Calderon has been a professional tax return preparer and many of the charges against Calderon arise from this tax work Continue Reading…
A Georgia real estate investor pleaded guilty today for his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Fulton and DeKalb counties, Georgia.
Morris Podber, a Georgia real estate investor, pleaded guilty for his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Fulton and DeKalb counties, Georgia. Podber admitted that he conspired with others not to bid against one another at public real estate foreclosure auctions on selected properties. After the public foreclosure auctions, Podber admitted that he and his co-conspirators would divvy up the targeted properties in private side auctions, open only to the conspirators. Podber admitted to conspiring to use the mail to carry out their fraud, which included making and receiving payoffs and diverting money to co-conspirators that should have gone to the mortgage holders and others. Continue Reading…
Glenn Jasen, Spring Hill, Florida and Kathryn Jasen, Spring Hill, Florida, were found guilty of wire fraud by a federal jury. They each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. The sentencing hearings are scheduled for January 11, 2016. They were indicted on July 15, 2015.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, in 2009, the Jasens discovered a sinkhole beneath their home in Hernando County, Florida, and made a claim to Citizens Property Insurance. Citizens offered the Jasens either a check to compensate for their losses or mitigation of the sinkhole. Rather than having Citizens repair the developing sinkhole, the Jasens instead chose to receive a check for $153,745.37. But they kept the money and did not repair the sinkhole. The Jasens then made cosmetic repairs to the house and listed it for sale in 2013, but kept the sinkhole a secret from prospective buyers. In fact, on a required Florida real estate disclosure form, the Jasens denied any knowledge of a prior sinkhole or sinkhole claim. The home was ultimately sold to a family with five children. In March 2015, the family heard what sounded like a car crash in the earth beneath their house. They soon discovered a crack running across the floor of the house, and immediately had to evacuate.
This case was investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Tampa Bay Regional Operations Center. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas N. Palermo.
