Archives For Income/Asset

Alla Samchuk, 45, Roseville, California, was found guilty in a mortgage fraud scheme involving three properties after a four day jury trial in Sacramento, California.  Samchuk was convicted of six counts of bank fraud, six counts of making a false statement to a financial institution, one count of money laundering, and one count of aggravated identity theft. After the verdict, U.S. District Court Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. ordered Samchuk taken into custody.

According to court documents, from 2006 through 2008, Samchuk, a licensed real estate salesperson, orchestrated a mortgage fraud scheme involving three properties in the Sacramento area using straw buyers. Two of the houses were purchased so that Samchuk herself could occupy them. She lacked the ability to qualify for a loan, so she instead recruited straw buyers to apply for the loans in their names. Samchuk caused the submission of loan applications containing false representations of income, employment, assets, and a false indication that the straw buyers would occupy the homes as their primary residence.

A second objective of the scheme was to obtain HELOC (home equity line of credit) funds. According to evidence at trial, on two of the properties, Samchuk diverted or attempted to divert HELOC funds to her own benefit. Samchuk caused the HELOC loans to fund by submitting false statements and documents to the lender regarding the qualifications of the straw buyers.

The scheme involved two properties in Roseville, California and one in El Dorado Hills, California. In 2007, Samchuk filed an application for a HELOC on one of the properties without the straw buyer’s knowledge or consent. To obtain the HELOC, she forged the signature of the straw buyer on a short form deed of trust that she caused to be notarized and recorded. The stated purpose of the HELOC was home improvement, but once the line of credit was funded, Samchuk quickly diverted all of the funds to her own use, spending the proceeds on a Lexus and the repayment of a substantial personal debt.

Sentencing is set for October 21, 2016. Samchuk faces a maximum of 30 years in prison for each count of bank fraud and false statements to a financial institution, 10 years in prison for money laundering, and two years in prison for aggravated identity theft.

The verdict was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert. This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Audrey B. Hemesath and Andre M. Espinosa are prosecuting the case.

Murray O. Wilhoite, Jr., 68, Franklin, Tennessee, was convicted of three felony charges following a trial before U.S. District Court Judge Aleta A. Trauger.  The jury convicted Wilhoite of making a false statement to a bank, making a false statement in a federal bankruptcy filing, and making a false statement under oath during a bankruptcy hearing.

Evidence presented during the trial demonstrated that Wilhoite obtained a $1.2 million loan in December 2007 by pledging, as collateral, a Franklin, Tennessee property that he did not own. During trial, testimony and exhibits proved that Wilhoite knowingly misrepresented to an FDIC-insured bank that he owned certain real property that he pledged as collateral. However, as trial evidence proved, the property was owned at all relevant times by his father.

In documents signed during the closing for this loan, Wilhoite falsely represented that he was the owner and titleholder of the property, and the bank relied on his statements in permitting him to obtain a loan using the Franklin property as collateral in lieu of a down payment.  Wilhoite subsequently lied during a 2011 bankruptcy filing, by again misrepresenting that he owned the Franklin property, and did so for the purpose of preventing the bank from foreclosing on this property after he defaulted on his loan. Wilhoite lied again at a 2013 hearing before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, during which he perjured himself by falsely stating that he had not known that the Franklin property was designated as collateral for the loan. The evidence at trial proved that Wilhoite made the bankruptcy-related false statements knowingly and with the intent to deceive.

Wilhoite faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000 on the false statement to a bank charge, and up to 5 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 on the other charges. Wilhoite will be sentenced by Judge Trauger on September 23, 2016. The sentence will be imposed by the Court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and applicable federal statutes.

The conviction was announced by announced United States Attorney David Rivera.  The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of the United States Trustee. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sandra G. Moses and William F. Abely.

Ryan Costo, 40, Roseville, California, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison for bank fraud in a scheme to defraud lenders.

According to court documents, Costo overstated his income and financial assets in connection with a $1.35 million loan from Bank of America related to the acquisition of a classic aircraft. Costo not only made false statements about his income and various bank and stock account balances on the loan application, but also caused various false and fraudulent account statements and tax returns to be given to the Bank of America in order to procure the loan. Costo made various false representations and submitted false documents to obtain three other loans: a $1.95 million loan from CitiMortgage Inc. related to a Granite Bay, California residence; a $3 million loan from Washington Mutual Bank, now Chase, related to another Granite Bay, California residence, and a $267,000 loan from San Diego Private Bank. Costo pleaded guilty to bank fraud on October 3, 2013.

United States District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. sentenced Costo.  The case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Shelley D. Weger prosecuted the case.

Edward Khalfin, 58, San Mateo, California was found guilty by a federal jury of 12 counts of mail fraud and 11 counts of making false statements on loan applications. Robin Dimiceli, 53, Brentwood, California was found guilty by a federal jury of six counts of mail fraud and six counts of making false statements on loan applications.  The convictions arise out of a builder bailout scheme that provided financial incentives to straw buyers to get them to purchase homes that developers were having difficulty selling

According to court documents, from August 2006 through May 2008, two brothers, Volodymyr Dubinsky, 56, formerly of Folsom, California, and Leonid Doubinski, 50, formerly of Copperopolis, California, built, developed, and sold real estate in Carmichael, California, Sacramento, California, and Copperopolis, California. As the real estate market declined, the brothers recruited family members, employees, and associates with good credit to act as straw buyers for residential properties. The Dubinsky brothers have not been apprehended and are fugitives thought to be residing in Ukraine. Continue Reading…

Michael David Scott, real estate developer, 51, Mansfield, Massachusetts, was sentenced to 135 months in prison, five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of over $11,374,201and to forfeit $7,413,712.  In June 2015, Scott pleaded guilty to counts of 32 counts of wire fraud, 14 counts of bank fraud, and 22 counts of money laundering. Continue Reading…

Alberic Okou Agodio, 30, Bethesda, Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, arising from a mortgage fraud scheme.  He used the names of immigrants and students, along with false financial information, to obtain approximately $3.8 million in home mortgage loans.  He bought approximately three dozen row houses in Baltimore, all of which are in default or foreclosure. Continue Reading…

Stephen B. Deluca, 58, Deland, Florida, was sentenced by Senior United States District Judge John Antoon, II to six years and six months in federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud wherein he defrauded several lenders using inflated assets to qualify for lines of credit.

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Six individuals were indicted for participating in a mortgage fraud conspiracy involving alleged misrepresentations to the banks including fictitious verifications of false and fraudulent employment and bank deposit information set forth on loan applications.  Continue Reading…

Ronald L. Roberts, 54, Town and Country, Missouri, was sentenced to 68 months imprisonment on charges of mail and wire fraud in connection with his obtaining more than a million dollars from lenders in a loan fraud scheme.

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Kirk Smith, Harris County, Texas, has been ordered to prison following his conviction for defrauding seven different Houston, Texas-area banks of more than $2 million in 2007 and 2008 with a check kiting scheme, which allowed him to use inflated account balances to qualify for loans and lines of credit. Continue Reading…