Jason Alain Wu and Michael Andrew Kergosien were indicted in the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, on August 28, 2019 and charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud HUD and five counts of mail fraud, aiding and abetting.
According to the indictment:
Wu was the owner of American Home Free Mortgage, LLC (“AHFM”), a company that assisted homebuyers with obtaining financing, including interim financing, to construct and purchase a manufactured home. Kergosien was employed by AHFM as a loan officer, director of sales, and director of operations. MK Financial Services, LLC (“MK Financial”) and 1X Funding, LLC (“1X Funding”) were shell “third party companies” set up at the direction of Wu or Kergosien to receive fraudulent construction management fees as a means to recoup AHFM’s costs associated with interim financing without disclosing the true nature of the fees to the borrowers or HUD or obtaining the borrower’s agreement to pay the fees. Under HUD’s Construction to Permanent Loan Program, lenders who provide interim financing during the construction of a home are prohibited from charging a borrower additional fees unless the borrower signs a separate agreement specifically agreeing to pay the fees.
In or about November 2010 through at least September 2016, Wu and Kergosien caused AHFM employees to submit false invoices to title companies, on behalf of MK Financial and 1X Funding, that fraudulently charged a “construction management fee” and that concealed that the true purpose of the fee was to pay for undisclosed AHFM costs, including warehouse line fees on construction loans. The MK Financial invoices stated “[m]ake all checks payable to MK Construction” which falsely represented the funds would be used for construction related costs. They also caused false entries on the HUD-1’s making it appear that the housing manufacturer was paying the construction management fee outside of the closing when the fee was actually included in the borrower’s purchase price and ultimately rolled into the loan. These invoices and false statements were concealed from HUD and the borrowers.
Between July 6, 2011 and September 10, 2014, Kergosien and Wu caused title companies to issue checks to MK Financial/MK Construction resulting in fraudulent payments of approximately $1,117,581 on approximately 126 FHA insured loans for over $12M; and, between July 15, 2014 and September 10, 2015, to issue checks to 1X Funding, LLC resulting in fraudulent payments of approximately $1,062,416 on approximately 99 FHA insured loans for at least $3.8M.
On August 10, 2015, Housing Wire reported that HUD’s Mortgage Review Board had settled allegations that American Home Free Mortgage had artificially increased mortgage costs by an average of $12,000 per loan through illegitimate fees paid to a company owned and operated by its sales manager. In that settlement, AHFM did not admit fault or liability but agreed to pay a civil money penalty of $169,419 along with the permanent withdrawal of its FHA approval.
Yelp’s page for American Home Free Mortgage reflects that the company is closed. It received only one review – 5 stars.
