For a time dubbed one of the San Diego FBI’s most wanted cyber fugitives, John Gordon Baden hid out in Tijuana, where he trafficked in the stolen identities of potential homeowners who applied for loans through a U.S. mortgage company.
By the time Mexican authorities arrested Baden in November 2014, U.S. investigators say his computer hack had given him access to more than a half-million loan documents containing names, social security numbers, addresses and email accounts.
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.
A federal judge Tuesday sentenced two people to 30 months and 46 months in prison for their roles in a mortgage fraud scheme that involved seven properties in Honolulu and Kona.
Visiting U.S. District Senior Judge Charles R. Breyer sentenced Sakara Blackwell, the real estate broker formerly known as Dawn Sakaguchi, to the 30-month prison term. It was Blackwell who handled the sales of the properties that still had mortgages on them to buyers who were unaware of the mortgages.
Two brothers accused of bilking a Castalia man out of $30,000 face felony charges of grand theft following a grand jury indictment in August, court records show.
Daniel Keegan, 45, of Castalia, and David Keegan, 47, of Sandusky, could face up to 18 months in jail after a Castalia man said he entered into an agreement to purchase real estate at 7349 E. Ohio 101 only to find out the brothers did not own the land and allegedly were not making mortgage payments to the bank.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
Randy Gard Teall, 67, Post Falls, Idaho, pleaded guilty to bank fraud. Teall was indicted by a federal grand jury in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho on June 17, 2014.
According to the plea agreement, Teall admitted he was a loan officer at Global Credit Union, a federally insured financial institution in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. With the intent to defraud, Teall executed a scheme to procure loans from Global Credit Union using false promises or statements on loans he approved to individuals with whom he had a business relationship. Teall failed to disclose his personal and business relationship and the borrowers’ true financial worth. Some of Global’s loan funds were used to pay rent to Teall.
The charge of bank fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to five years of supervised release.
Sentencing is set for December 15, 2015, before Senior U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge at the federal courthouse in Coeur d’Alene.
The indictment was announced by U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson.The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.