Steven Gutierrez, 58, Moreno Valley, California, was arrested without incident on September 29, 2010, by investigators from the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Real Estate Fraud Unit, outside his workplace in Chino Hills, California. Gutierrez was arrested on felony charges of selling false securities and selling securities without a license.
In 2006, Continue Reading...
A warning has been issued to homeowners about an alarming rise in short sale fraud across California in a field “rife with scam artists”.
A short sale is an arrangement in which a homeowner sells his or her home for less than the outstanding mortgage, with the consent of the lender.
Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. joined the California Department of Real Estate and the State Bar of California in
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The two cases involving mortgage fraud in Ventura, California, name a total of 14 defendants, all of whom face potential sentences of hundreds of years in prison if they are convicted in the schemes that cumulatively helped unqualified and straw borrowers obtain tens of millions of dollars in fraudulent mortgage loans.
Peter Morris, a California licensed real estate broker, and other professionals working at Continue Reading...
Fifty-six individuals in the Northern District of California are facing mortgage fraud related charges as a result of Operation Stolen Dreams.
Nearly $44 million in losses were inflicted by the mortgage fraud schemes employed by the alleged fraudsters in the Northern District of California. Seven individuals in the District have pled guilty to mortgage fraud related crimes during the take-down that began on March 1. Two individuals have been sentenced.
The charges were announced
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George M. Eggleston, 63, Las Vegas, Nevada, has been charged with wire fraud and mail fraud in a foreclosure rescue scheme. A federal grand jury returned the indictment on June 10, 2010 and was unsealed after Eggleston’s arrest. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of all property and proceeds obtained directly or indirectly in the scheme.
According to the Continue Reading...
Hector Ricardo Esquivel, San Jose, California, a former real estate agent, was sentenced to one year in jail for six felony counts of grand theft for defrauding homeowners in a loan modification scam.
Esquivel solicited victims from Santa Clara County, California and beyond between May 2008 and May 2009. Victims lost
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Anthony G. Symmes, 59, Paradise, California, has agreed to plead guilty to an information, charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with a builder bailout scheme involving fraudulent sales of 62 houses, and with one count of money laundering. Symmes, who is an attorney, a CPA, a developer, and the largest home builder in the Chico,
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Kathy Chen, 49, Westminster, California, a real estate broker, was convicted of conspiring with her boyfriend and his brother to commit $17.5 million in real estate fraud by purchasing 35 properties using stolen identities and intentionally defaulting on loans in order to steal the loan money. Chen was found guilty by a jury of 136 felony counts including one count of
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Milton Retana, 46, Huntington Park, California, a man who preyed on Spanish-speaking investors with promises of hefty returns during the real estate bubble was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for bilking approximately 2,300 victims who suffered losses of approximately $33 milion. Retana was sentenced by United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner.
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Morton Daniel Bohn, 69, Tigard, Oregon, was sentenced after admitting guilt on federal charges of bank fraud and money laundering. The defendant was ordered to serve one year and one day in federal prison and pay restitution of $288,171. Bohn was ordered to report to the Bureau of Prisons on June 15, 2010.
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