Dozens of residents in Hazleton are seeking for help after being scammed by a real estate agent who was at the same time their community leader. They all bought their houses from Ignacio Beato, who turned out to be selling homes with fraudulent deeds.
The Greater Hazleton Real Estate Association says there are about 50 complaints against Beato, a licensed real estate agent.
A federal judge has rejected David R. Sharrock’s request to overturn or shorten his 135-month sentence for mortgage fraud, concealment of property and fraudulent transfer in a bankruptcy.
U.S. District Court Judge Donald C. Nugent issued a ruling saying he believes testimony given during a July 28 hearing in Cleveland where Sharrock’s attorney, James McDonnell, told the court the 73-year-old inmate never asked him to file an appeal after he plea no contest in September 2013.
Rosita Vilchez, 39, a fugitive in Lima, Peru, until she was extradited to the United States in June 2015, pled guilty to leading a wide-ranging mortgage fraud conspiracy that targeted hundreds of victims in the northern Virginia Hispanic community. The mortgage fraud scheme, which operated between August 2005 and August 2007, generated nearly $7.4 million in fraudulent proceeds and caused losses of more than $15 million to lenders, most of which were federally insured. Continue Reading…
Petaluma man drops bid to avoid paying debt in mortgage fraud case
Defense attorneys for a former local real estate developer were granted a continuance Wednesday in Solano County Superior Court over a scheduling conflict.
Attorneys in the case of Richard D. Lamphere were ordered back to court Sept. 1 when a new trial date will be selected. A trial could possibly be set for March 2016, according to courtroom discussions.
A Norwell, Massachusetts based mortgage broker, one of its loan originators, and an outside insurance agent have been sued by the Massachusetts Attorney General for sales tactics that convinced elderly homeowners to apply for reverse mortgages and invest their proceeds in risky financial products, including variable annuities
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Howard Goldsmith, real estate developer, 41, Raleigh, North Carolina, was sentenced to a 30 month term of imprisonment for his role in a down payment fraud scheme. According to documents filed in Court, between August of 2006 and February of 2009, Goldsmith and his conspirators carried out a fraud upon various banks and lenders using entities Goldsmith owned or controlled, including Ganyard Farm Construction and Baldwin Estates. Continue Reading…
Scammers are trying to take advantage of struggling families by promising to buy homes for quick cash warns the North Carolina Attorney General.
These scammers send postcards and put out signs proclaiming, “We buy homes!” But rather than buying houses as advertised, most of these companies will try to convince you to sign over control of your home. The company then leases the property out to a new tenant. As a result, you lose rights to your home but remain on the hook for mortgage payments. Homebuyers or tenants can also be hit hard by these scams, which can advertise homes in deceptive rent-to-own agreements for big upfront fees. Continue Reading…
A former leader of a Haitian paramilitary force failed to persuade a judge that his mortgage fraud conviction in the United States was unsound.
Eastern District Judge Jack Weinstein denied Emmanuel “Toto” Constant’s habeas corpus petition on Friday, saying the lead-up to his conviction—which involved a state judge’s sua sponte decision to vacate Constant’s plea deal in light of serious allegations against him for his acts in Haiti—did not run afoul of due process requirements.
Alleging a “miscarriage of justice,” attorneys for former NFL star Irving Fryar and his mother are urging a judge to either overturn a jury’s verdicts convicting the two in a $1.2 million mortgage fraud or grant a new trial.
Motions filed by the defense in Superior Court in Mount Holly late last week say the convictions came despite a lack of evidence and because of prosecutorial misconduct.