Archives For appeal
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.
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.
While on probation from a 2006 conviction for conspiracy to defraud HUD, Manjur Alam implemented another scheme to defraud mortgage-lending institutions. Between 2006 and 2008, he recruited and organized unqualified buyers to submit loan applications that included false representations, and submitted supporting documentation for the applicants that included false verifications of rent and false letters of credit. The buyers defaulted on the loans and the lenders eventually sold the properties for less than the original loan amounts. Continue Reading…
Calvin A. Townsend was indicted in a twenty-six count indictment, along with twenty other co-defendants, for participation in a mortgage fraud scheme headed by ringleader Bobbie Brown. Townsend, a licensed real estate agent and owner of Custom Home Service Corporation, was charged with bank fraud and mail fraud. He pled not guilty and, along with five other co-defendants, was tried before a jury. On July 8, 2011, the jury found Townsend guilty on all counts.
Townsend filed a petition with the District Court for the Northern Division of Illinois seeking to vacate, set aside, or correct the resulting 118 month sentence. He argued that he had ineffective assistance of counsel, exculpatory evidence was excluded, and argued further that there was a conspiracy to obstruct justice between his attorneys, the prosecutors, and the trial judge (the same judge hearing the petition to vacate.) The judge recused himself on the claims that he (the judge) had personally engaged in a conspiracy to obstruct justice and considered the remaining requests for relief. Continue Reading…