Woman Sentenced for Making False Statements to a Lending Business

Stephanie Abbott —  November 30, 2023 — Leave a comment

Carol Bragdon, 50, Brewer, Maine, was sentenced today to wire fraud and making false statements to a mortgage lending business.

According to court records, between November 2020 and April 2021, Bragdon provided false statements and representations to a residential mortgage lender for the purpose of obtaining a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) backed loan. She used Google email accounts to communicate with the lender and the VA and to transmit documentation as part of the scheme. The emails were transmitted from Maine and through another state.

Bragdon was also sentenced for making a false statement to a licensed firearms dealer in a separate case.

In August 2021, Bragdon purchased five firearms at Maine Military Supply in Brewer, falsely stating that she was the actual purchaser of the firearms. She was accompanied by an individual who directed her to specific firearms and who was later arrested with one of the firearms, a Walther model PK380 .380 caliber pistol. That individual was prohibited from purchasing a firearm under federal law.

The VA Office of Inspector General and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the cases.

STRAW PURCHASING: A straw purchase is an illegal firearm purchase where the actual buyer of the gun, being unable to pass the required federal background check or desiring to not have his or her name associated with the transaction, uses a proxy buyer who can pass the required background check to purchase the firearm for him/her.

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Man Sentenced In Nationwide Mortgage Fraud Scheme

Stephanie Abbott —  November 29, 2023 — Leave a comment

Brian Roy Lozito, 54, Orange Park, Florida, to two years and two months in federal prison for a Nationwide Mortgage Fraud Scheme

According to court documents, Lozito owned and managed American Investigative Services (AIS). AIS purported to offer consumers mortgage auditing services in exchange for a fee. Lozito and his conspirators solicited customers nationwide through mailings and telephone calls. In these solicitations, Lozito and AIS employees, under the direction of Lozito, made false and fraudulent representations to consumers, including that AIS would perform “forensic audits” of mortgage documents to uncover evidence of deficiencies in the mortgage documents. Lozito claimed AIS would obtain quitclaim deeds and other remedies so the mortgage holders would be relieved of their mortgage debt and own their properties free and clear. If AIS could not help the consumer, Lozito promised to refund their money. In reality, AIS did not perform the services paid for by consumers and did not refund money to consumers. Funds collected from consumers went to bank accounts controlled by Lozito who then used the funds to keep AIS operating and for personal expenses.      

The court ordered Lozito to pay restitution to the victims he defrauded and also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $164,193.84, the proceeds of the fraud. Lozito had pleaded guilty on July 28, 2023. He was arraigned on the indictment on January 11, 2021, and initially released on bond. The court revoked his bond on November 18, 2022, and subsequently ordered him detained. 

This case was investigated by United States Secret Service – Jacksonville Field Office, the Consumer Protection Division of the Office of the Florida Attorney General with valuable assistance from the Clay County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin C. Frein. The asset forfeiture was handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Mai Tran and Jennifer M. Harrington.

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Salesman Sent to Prison for Fraud Conspiracy Costing HUD

Stephanie Abbott —  November 28, 2023 — Leave a comment

Edmundo De La Torre, 38, Texas was sentenced for his role in a complex mortgage fraud scheme.

From 2018 to 2020, De La Torre admitted he was working as a salesman for a Laredo area homebuilder. De La Torre used his position to attempt to get potential customers approved for Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-backed mortgages. He forged various documents, including financial statements, bank statements, paycheck stubs and letters of reference for at least 38 otherwise unqualified homebuyers.

De La Torre then submitted these fake and forged documents to a Laredo area bank on behalf of the potential homebuyers. He admitted he was receiving a commission for each sale and personally profiting over $200,000 from the scheme. In addition, more than three dozen known loans in this scheme ultimately defaulted or had to be restructured, costing HUD roughly $971,310.10 at the time of his plea in April.

De La Torre pleaded guilty April 19 to orchestrating a mortgage fraud scheme in which he altered hundreds of documents to get otherwise unqualified buyers’ approval for government-backed mortgages.

U.S. District Judge Marina Marmalejo has now ordered De La Torre to serve 36 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. De La Torre was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1.17 million. In handing down the sentence, Judge Marmolejo noted the sophistication and persistence of De La Torre’s crime and remarked on the profound effects it has on potential first-time and low-income homebuyers seeking homes, and instead ending up entangled in legal and finances issues.

De La Torre was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani made the announcement.

HUD – Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation with assistance from the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Carter prosecuted the case.

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MAN SENTENCED FOR STEALING WIDOW’S HOME BY POSING AS HER SON

Stephanie Abbott —  November 22, 2023 — Leave a comment

Christopher Williams, 43, Brooklyn, New York was sentenced for stealing the home of an elderly widow by posing as her son, then selling the property and cashing in more than $200,000.

According to the charges:

  • In August 2021, Barbara Matthews received a notification that a new deed, mortgage and other documents had been filed without her knowledge with the New York City Department of Finance for a property she inherited after her father’s death in 2011. The home, on Dunlop Avenue in Jamaica, had been empty for several years as Matthews planned to renovate it.
  • An investigation was opened and revealed that Williams had submitted several documents to falsely represent himself as the sole owner of the property. The documents included phony birth certificates and death certificates identifying Matthews as her mother.
  • After claiming ownership of the property, Williams sold it for $270,000.
  • After closing, the defendant received a sale proceeds check for $214,535.64. Williams took the check to a Bronx check cashing establishment and received $209,665.69 in cash.

Williams pleaded guilty in August to identity theft in the first degree and offering a false instrument for filing in the second degree.

Williams was sentenced yesterday by Queens Supreme Court Justice Leigh K. Cheng to a term of two to four years in prison. Justice Cheng also granted a motion filed by the Queens District Attorney’s office, which applied a state statue to argue for immediately restoring the stolen property’s deed to its rightful owner, sparing the victim the time and expense of additional legal proceedings in civil court. District Attorney Katz’s office was the first to ever use the 2019 law earlier this year, successfully returning a St. Albans home to a disabled veteran and his family.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz made the announcement.

District Attorney Katz said: “We will not allow criminals to scheme and scam their way into other people’s properties and we will use every tool available to ensure that victims are made whole. In communities targeted by deed fraudsters, many people do not have the means to hire an attorney to file a civil suit and litigate against deep-pocketed mortgage companies, banks and title insurers. Our use of this new tactic allows us to provide victims with one-stop justice.”

Assistant District Attorney Myongjae M. Yi, Section Chief of the District Attorney’s Major Economic Crimes Bureau, prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Stein, Chief of the Real Estate Theft Unit in the Housing and Worker Protection Bureau, William Jorgenson, Bureau Chief, and Christina Hanophy, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Gerard A. Brave.

 

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Former Attorney Sentenced to Prison for Stealing from Clients

Stephanie Abbott —  November 15, 2023 — Leave a comment

William Mccullough, 63, Westerly, Rhode Island, was sentenced today to 12 months and one day of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for stealing more than $700,000 from clients of his real estate law practice.

According to court documents and statements made in court today, prior to his resignation from the Connecticut bar in March 2019, McCullough operated a law practice in Stamford, Connecticut for several years.  As part of his practice, McCullough worked on real estate transactions for clients.  In that capacity, McCullough received funds from clients and knew he was required to deposit those funds in an Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account (“IOLTA Account”) and use them in accordance with his duties to each client.  In March 2018, the Connecticut Statewide Grievance Committee audited McCullough’s IOLTA Account and found that he had failed to maintain required documents for several years.  The audit revealed that more than $1.27 million was due to clients, but the IOLTA Account held less than $600,000.  A subsequent criminal investigation revealed that McCullough defrauded clients by using funds in his IOLTA Account to cover funds owed to others, and for his own use.  McCullough made false representations to clients, including providing a false and inaccurate closing statement to at least one individual, to prevent the scheme from being uncovered.

McCullough’s clients lost approximately $720,851.05 through this scheme. by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden sentenced McCullough and ordered him to pay full restitution.

On November 22, 2022, McCullough pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

McCullough, who is released on bond, is required to report to prison on January 8.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, made the announcement.

This matter was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the Wallingford Police Department.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross Weingarten.

 

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Man Charged with a Title Fraud Scheme

Stephanie Abbott —  November 2, 2023 — Leave a comment

Ralph Divino, 62, Annandale, New Jersey, has been charged with defrauding a New Jersey-based title insurance company of approximately $1.5 million.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From October 2018 through November 2018, Divino executed a scheme to defraud a New Jersey-based title insurance company through which he fraudulently obtained a residential property and funds exceeding $900,000. Through Divino’s scheme, the title insurance company lost approximately $1.5 million.

Divino advised the title insurance company of his purported intention to purchase two residential properties in Warren, New Jersey, and Annandale, New Jersey. Divino then falsely represented that he had wired $1.5 million for the purchase of both properties when, in fact, he never sent any funds. Divino advised the title insurance company that he no longer wished to purchase the Warren property. Relying on Divino’s false assurances that he had wired $1.5 million to the title insurance company, the title insurance company issued Divino a check for $987,000 as a refund, which Divino cashed and used to purchase personal items, including luxury cars. Divino also closed on and assumed ownership of the Annandale property, still never having provided any funds to title insurance company.

In November 2018, after the closing on the Annandale property, the title insurance company discovered that Divino had never wired any money to purchase either property. When representatives from the title insurance company asked Divino about this, Divino provided them with two checks from his purported business account totaling $1.5 million. After the bank refused to honor Divino’s checks, citing insufficient funds, Divino engaged in an email exchange with an employee of the title insurance company in which he falsely assured the employee that the checks could be used to reimburse the title insurance company, or that Divino would otherwise provide the missing funds. In truth, at the time of those communications, the business account from which Divino had issued the checks had a negative balance. Divino never reimbursed the title insurance company for the fraudulently obtained funds.

Divino was indicted on two counts of wire fraud.  He appeared on Oct. 31, 2023, before U.S. Magistrate Judge James B. Clark III in Newark federal court, entered a plea of not guilty, and was released on unsecured bond.

Each wire fraud count carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of either $250,000 or twice the gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greatest.

U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger made the announcement today.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark, with the investigation leading to the charges.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Samantha C. Fasanello of the Cybercrime Unit in Newark.

The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

 

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Woman Pleads Guilty to Real Estate Bank Fraud

Stephanie Abbott —  October 25, 2023 — Leave a comment

Maria Esperansa Salgado, 64, Ft. Washington, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to bank fraud.

According to court documents, from at least August of 2012 through April 2019, Salgado devised a scheme to defraud a mortgage lender into agreeing to a short sale, or pre-foreclosure sale, of a residential property in Alexandria, Virginia that was pending foreclosure for non-payment of the mortgage. The defendant and her brother had purchased and lived in the property for about ten years.

After filing a Chapter 7 petition for bankruptcy to discharge her debts in 2013, Salgado used the identity of an unsuspecting victim to obtain a home mortgage from a lender. Salgado then entered into fraudulent sales contracts with straw purchasers and the victim to make it appear as if she was selling the property to third parties as part of an arms-length transaction. A straw purchaser is someone who buys a property on behalf of another person when the real buyer cannot complete the transaction. The fraudulent sales contracts made it appear as if the straw purchasers and the victim were buying the house on behalf of themselves. In truth, Salgado’s intention was to retain ownership of the property and the proceeds from the fraudulent short sale.

In 2015, Salgado executed a fraudulent refinance of the property using the name of straw purchasers and kept the proceeds. The victim was unaware of the re-finance.  In 2019, Salgado used a nominee owner to sell the property to a third-party buyer. Salgado and the nominee owner received the proceeds of the fraudulent sale and paid off the remaining loan balance and used a portion to purchase a new property in Ft. Washington, Maryland.

To date, the victim has been unable to qualify for a loan to purchase her own home because of the fraudulent mortgage taken out in her name. The scheme also resulted in $146,188 of loss to the mortgage lender. As part of her plea agreement, Salgado agreed to pay restitution to the victim and to forfeit the proceeds of the bank fraud.

Salgado is scheduled to be sentenced on February 21, 2024. She faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Javan Wilson, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Inspector General, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Rossie D. Alston, Jr. accepted the plea.

The Fairfax County Police Department, the Arlington County Police Department, the Prince William County Police Department, the City of Hyattsville (MD) Police Department – Criminal Investigations Section, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations also provided significant assistance in this investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Riley Pedersen is prosecuting the case. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Carina Cuellar provided significant assistance to the investigation and prosecution of this case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:23-cr-154.

 

 

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Man Indicted for Stealing $925,000 Through Deed Fraud

Stephanie Abbott —  October 13, 2023 — Leave a comment

Salome Vega, 46, of Hempstead, New York., was arraigned today on an indictment in which he is charged with grand larceny for allegedly fraudulently transferring the titles of a property in Brooklyn and a property in the Bronx, New York (where Lindbergh baby kidnapper Bruno Richard Hauptmann once resided) and selling them for a total of approximately $925,000. It is alleged the defendant went to elaborate lengths to perpetrate the two separate frauds, including using a variety of fraudulent documents and, in one case, had someone else impersonate a deceased Bronx homeowner at a closing. The defendant also allegedly attempted to steal nearly $300,000 in COVID-19 tax relief payments.

According to the investigation, on August 6, 2019, the defendant allegedly sold the title to 1279 East 222nd Street, a two-family house in the Bronx, New York. At the closing, which was held at an office in Midwood, Brooklyn, the defendant had someone impersonate the property’s deceased owner when the defendant fraudulently sold the house to a buyer for $250,000. Bruno Richard Hauptmann, who was convicted of kidnapping Charles Lindbergh Jr., once resided in that East 222nd Street house.

Furthermore, according to the investigation, six days later, on August 12, 2019, the defendant opened a business checking account for an entity with the same name as the decedent. On the same day, he allegedly deposited a $242,828 check from the sale of 1279 East 222nd Street into the account. Over the next two months, the defendant allegedly emptied the account.

The title transfer was subsequently vacated by the Bronx County Public Administrator when it was discovered that the property owner of 1279 East 222nd Street died on April 26, 2019, approximately four months before the closing.

Furthermore, according to the investigation, in February 2023, the defendant fraudulently sold 431-435 Autumn Avenue, which includes a two-family house attached to a vacant lot in East New York, Brooklyn, for $675,000. It is alleged the defendant did this by pretending to be the CEO of Merit Homes Inc., which owned the property. The defendant was not associated with Merit Homes Inc., nor was he authorized to sell the property. According to the investigation, the defendant, at the closing, requested that funds from the sale be made payable to him personally in amounts of $100,000, $200,000, $300,000, and $33,772 (the remainder of the funds went to closing costs). The defendant proceeded to cash the payments at various check cashing stores in Queens and Long Island.

It is also alleged that the defendant opened a fraudulent business account for a surveillance company on February 9, 2023. The following day, on February 10, 2023, the defendant, according to the investigation, caused a COVID-19 tax relief check from the IRS for $297,368.51 intended for the company to be deposited into this account at a TD Bank branch in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. An alert bank employee spotted the fraud and froze the account before any funds could be withdrawn.

The defendant was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on an indictment in which he was charged with two counts of second-degree grand larceny, second-degree criminal impersonation, and second-degree attempted grand-larceny. The defendant was ordered to return to court on December 6, 2023.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez made the anoouncement.

District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant allegedly filled his pockets with the ill-gotten gains of two separate real estate transactions in which he stole – then sold – the titles to two New York City properties while also attempting to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 tax relief funds. We will now seek to hold the defendant accountable and will continue to vigorously investigate and prosecute deed fraud.”

The District Attorney thanked the KCDA Detective Investigators for their assistance on this case.

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Sergey Marts, of the District Attorney’s Frauds Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Frank Longobardi, Chief of the District Attorney’s Construction Crimes and Labor Fraud Unit, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Richard Farrell, Chief of the District Attorney’s Real Estate Fraud Unit and Assistant District Attorney Gregory Pavlides, Chief of the Frauds Bureau, and the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Michel Spanakos, Deputy Chief of the Investigations Division and Assistant District Attorney Patricia McNeill, Chief of the Investigations Division.

 

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Man Pleads Guilty to Defrauding D.C. Mortgage Assistance& Foreclosure Prevention Program

Stephanie Abbott —  September 18, 2023 — Leave a comment

Maron Moss, Jr., 49, Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty today in Superior Court to one count of first-degree fraud for a scheme in which he stole more than $31,920 from the District of Columbia’s HomeSaver program, a foreclosure prevention program administered by the D.C. Housing Finance Agency and funded by the U.S. Department of Treasury.

            According to the government’s evidence, Moss, a former DC resident, applied for mortgage assistance for his Washington, D.C. home in 2018, and then submitted recertifications for continued program eligibility on six separate occasions between 2018 and 2019.  Moss represented that he was suffering from financial hardship, was unemployed, and that his only source of income was unemployment benefits. Based on these representations, the D.C. Housing Finance Agency made more than $31,920 in monthly mortgage payments directly to Moss’s mortgage service companies. But Moss was, in fact, employed when he applied for the program, as well as during the entire period that he recertified his program eligibility, earning approximately $239,743 in income from at least five different employers during the relevant 20-month period.

            The Honorable Heidi Pasichow accepted Moss’s guilty plea and scheduled sentencing for December 5, 2023. As part of the plea agreement, Moss agreed to pay full restitution.

U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Principal Deputy Inspector General Melissa Bruce, of the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), and Inspector General for the District of Columbia Daniel W. Lucas made the announcement.

            In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Graves, Principal Deputy Inspector General Bruce, and Inspector General Lucas commended the work of those who investigated the case from SIGTARP and the Office of Inspector General.  They also acknowledged the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin D. Bleiberg and Brian P. Kelly who investigated and prosecuted the case.

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Man Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy To Mortgage Fraud

Stephanie Abbott —  September 14, 2023 — Leave a comment

Carlos Ferrer, 46, Tampa, Florida, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

According to the plea agreement, Ferrer, co-conspirator Maria Del Carmen Montes, and others conspired to create and executed a mortgage fraud scheme targeting financial institutions. To ensure that otherwise unqualified borrowers were approved for mortgage loans, the conspirators created fictitious and fraudulent paystubs and IRS Form W-2s in the names of companies for which the borrowers had never worked. The bogus income documents falsely indicated that borrowers had worked at these companies, including companies formed and controlled by Ferrer, for a certain period and earned income that they had not. These fictitious paystubs and W-2s were submitted to the financial institutions who relied on them when making underwriting decisions.

To further deceive the mortgage lenders, Ferrer filled in the false employment and employment and income on Verifications of Employment (VOE) sent by the financial institutions. Ferrer then falsely certified and emailed VOEs sent by the financial institution in the names of borrowers that he knew did not work for his companies and lied to the financial institutions during verbal VOE verifications. Based on Ferrer’s misrepresentations, the financial institutions approved and funded the mortgage loans.

Ferrer faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not been set.

This case was investigated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency – Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Chris Poor.

 

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