Archives For false deeds

Man Sentenced To 46 Months In Federal Prison For Mortgage Fraud

Stephanie Abbott —  May 12, 2023 — Leave a comment

Johnny Fior, 48, Cape Coral, Florida has been sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for wire fraud and illegal monetary transactions.

According to court documents, Fior committed the fraud by engaging in two different fraud schemes. With the first scheme, Fior convinced two individuals, by false and fraudulent pretenses, to serve as private investors/lenders for short-term balloon loans that were secured by mortgages on real properties in Lee County, Florida. To accomplish the scheme and give the investors the impression that their funded loans were secured by real property, Fior fraudulently filed fictitious mortgage deeds, promissory notes, and mortgage satisfactions. Additionally, Fior provided the investors interest-only payments to further delay repayment of the loans and requested loan repayment extensions to further prolong the scheme. Fior diverted the investors’ funds for his own personal use and none of the funds were used for their intended purpose.

In the second scheme, Fior, in his role as a real estate closing agent, diverted funds intended to be used to pay off property sellers’ existing mortgages to himself during real estate closings. In furtherance of the scheme, Fior created and caused the creation of real estate settlement statements that falsely represented a seller’s mortgage was repaid during the real estate closing process. Additionally, Fior created fake and fictitious bank statements, lender correspondence, wire transfer records, cashier’s checks, deposit records, and shipment records that fraudulently represented a seller’s mortgage had been paid or that the mortgage pay-off funds were submitted. As a result of the second scheme, two separate title insurance companies suffered a total loss of approximately $977,330.23.  

As part of his sentence, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $1,404,169.74, which were the proceeds of the wire fraud and illegal monetary transaction offenses. Fior had pleaded guilty on January 18, 2023.

 This case was investigated by the FBI. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Trent Reichling.

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Duo Sentenced In HUD Fraud Scheme

Stephanie Abbott —  November 1, 2019 — Leave a comment

Sergio Garcia, Sr., 50, Chicago, Illinois and Sergio Garcia, Jr., 30, of Lowell, Indianapolis were sentenced on their guilty pleas to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

According to documents in the case, between January 1, 2011 and May 31, 2014, the Garcias conspired with others to engage in a scheme to defraud HUD and to obtain money and property by means of false pretenses, representations and promises.  The scheme involved contracting with HUD to buy more than 87 homes in Indiana and Illinois and attempting to sell them for a profit the same day. The purchase contracts the conspirators provided to HUD stated that they or one of their businesses were purchasing the properties as investors and would pay with cash or use other financing not involving FHA. To support their claimed ability to pay for the homes, the conspirators mailed fraudulent letters purporting to show that they or their company had access to the funds needed to complete each purchase.  Many of the letters purported to be written by a private venture capital business and falsely stated that the Garcias or their business held a line of credit of up to $500,000.00, when in fact, as the conspirators well knew: the letters were forged and counterfeited; the lines of credit referenced therein did not exist; and the signatures thereon were forged and unauthorized.

Once under contract to purchase homes from HUD, the conspirators advertised the homes for subsequent resale and placed their own “for sale” signs at the homes. When the conspirators could not find a subsequent purchaser to buy the homes, they allowed their purchase contracts with HUD to expire and filed false liens on the homes for the full purchase price, impeding HUD’s ability to sell the homes to others. In some instances, the conspirators demanded money from would-be subsequent purchasers to release the false liens on the HUD-owned homes.

Garcia, Sr. was sentenced to serve 70 months in prison followed by 2 years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $471,571.06 in restitution to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) and $3,862 in restitution to other victims of his crime.

Garcia, Jr. was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison followed by 1 year of supervised release and was ordered to pay $24,819.53 in restitution to HUD and $202.25 to other victims of his crime

“This sentencing serves as an example that when housing professionals defraud the system of rules sponsored by  HUD, the HUD Office of Inspector General will continue to partner with both the U. S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI to pursue those individuals to ensure the integrity of its federal housing programs.”

“If you attempt to defraud the system and violate public trust, we will find you, we will investigate you, and we will ensure you are held accountable for your illegal actions,” said Special Agent in Charge Grant Mendenhall, FBI Indianapolis. “Today’s sentence should serve as a warning to others that the FBI and our partners will continue to pursue those who would seek to blatantly commit fraud.”

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the HUD Office of Inspector General.  The case was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Jill R. Koster.

 

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Two Accused and One Charged in Real Estate Fraud Case

Stephanie Abbott —  July 19, 2019 — Leave a comment

Angela Fawn Wallace, aka Leah Denise Williams, West Hills, California 58, who has been already been accused of bilking millions of dollars from elderly property owners and two others have been charged today in a real estate fraud case.

In 2015 and 2016, the defendants are accused of creating fraudulent deeds in order to illegally take out a loan against a Los Angeles, California home and later sell it.

Wallace also allegedly created false deeds for two other Los Angeles residential properties in 2015 and then in 2018 illegally signed deeds of trust on the residences as collateral for her bail in another fraud case, the prosecutor said.

Wallace was charged in case BA479339 with 68 felony counts, including identity theft, forgery relating to identity theft, procuring and offering false or forged instrument, counterfeit seal, grand theft and money laundering.

Co-defendants Charlesetta Brown, aka Barbara Brown, 68, Los Angeles, California and David Jayson Greene, aka Damian Dave Brown, 45, Los Angeles, California face 54 felony counts.

The charges for all three defendants include allegations of taking more than $100,000 through fraud and embezzlement and having prior felony convictions. The case was filed for warrant on July 12, 2019.

Brown pleaded not guilty today at an arraignment hearing. Wallace and Greene pleaded not guilty earlier this week. Bail for Wallace was set at $1.61 million and for Brown and Greene at $1.27 million each.

A bail review hearing for the three defendants is scheduled for July 24, 2019 followed by a preliminary hearing on July 29, in Department 30 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.

The crimes allegedly resulted in a loss of more than $400,000.

Wallace faces a possible maximum sentence of 41 years in state prison if convicted as charged. Brown and Greene each face up to 35 years and eight months in prison.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office made the announcement today.

The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation.

Wallace previously was charged in cases BA474533 and BA468922 with a total of 162 felony counts, including grand theft, identity theft, forgery and money laundering. Those charges include special allegations of taking of more than $200,000 and prior convictions.

If convicted as charged in those two cases, she faces a possible maximum sentence of 81 years and 10 months in state prison.

 

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