Brenda Ann Blair, 37, loan officer, Bonita Springs, Florida, formerly of Goochland County, Virginia, was sentenced to 27 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for participating in a fraud scheme that obtained approximately $2.4 million worth of mortgage backed loans from federally backed financial institutions. Continue Reading…
Archives For Loan App. Misreps
Hector Hernandez, real estate developer and owner of a mortgage company, 57, Miami, Florida; Aleida Fontao, co-owner of a mortgage company, 62, Miami, Florida; and Olga Hernandez, senior mortgage underwriter, 58, Lake Mary, Florida, each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution in connection with an FHA mortgage fraud scheme involving federally insured mortgages that caused losses of $64 million to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Including these defendants, 25 individuals have pleaded guilty to offenses related to this scheme to date.. Hector and Olga Hernandez both pleaded guilty on July 13, 2015, while Fontao pleaded guilty on July 7, 2015. As part of his plea, Hector Hernandez also agreed to forfeit $8 million, which amounts to his profits from the scheme.
Hector Hernandez’s mortgage company, Great Country Mortgage Bankers, specialized in mortgage loans that were insured by the FHA. Continue Reading…
Olga Palamarchuk, 45, Rancho Cordova, California; Pyotr Bondaruk, 44, Sacramento, California; Vera Zhiry, 35, Sacramento, California; and Peter Kuzmenko, 37, West Sacramento, California, were found guilty by a federal jury after a three week trial of conspiracy to commit mail fraud related to a mortgage fraud conspiracy. Palamarchuk and Bondaruk were also found guilty of making false statements to a financial institution and money laundering. Zhiry was also found guilty of money laundering.
According to evidence presented at trial, Palamarchuk, a loan officer at Capital Mortgage Lending Inc., recruited Bondaruk to purchase two houses using 100 percent financing and to refinance and obtain a home equity line of credit on one of the houses. In order to qualify for the loans, Palamarchuk and Bondaruk submitted fraudulent loan applications to lenders, falsely stating Bondaruk’s employment, income, assets, and intent to occupy the homes as his primary residence. Continue Reading…
Vince Manglardi, 59, real estate developer, Long Grove, Illinois; Theodore “TJ” Wojtas, Jr., 43, real estate developer, Glenview, Illinois; David W. Belconis, 56, attorney who owned and operated Classic Title, Inc., Long Grove, Illinois; Nunzio L. Greico, 63, Palatine, Illinois, who was formerly an employee of the developers; Walter Vali, also known as “Wally Mohammad” and “Mohammad Valimohammad,” 62, former mortgage loan originator, who did business as Sunshine Funding, Inc., Mundelein, Illinois; and Karin L. Ganswer, 62, former licensed real estate salesperson, Palatine, Illinois were indicted by an federal grand jury and charged with mail and wire fraud in connection with the marketing and sale of condominiums at a 50-acre development in Palatine, Illinois known as “The Woods at Countryside.” They are alleged to have participated in a mortgage fraud scheme which caused more than $16 million in losses to banks, mortgage lenders, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. Continue Reading…
Montgomery Joseph Isner, 47, Capital Heights, Maryland, was convicted of bank fraud in federal court for misrepresenting himself as the owner of a parcel of real property in Berkeley County, West Virginia, in order to fraudulently obtain a loan in the amount of $60,000.
Brian W. Harrison, 56, Great Bend, Kansas, a former loan officer for a bank in Great Bend, was sentenced to six months in prison followed by six months home detention for bank fraud. Harrison falsified credit and loan applications, promissory notes and security agreements without proper authority.
Aleksandr Kravchenko, 36, King County, Washington, who fled to Moldova, in Eastern Europe before being indicted by a federal grand jury for 55 loans fraudulently obtained from Westsound Bank, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Seattle to five years in prison.
Maximus A. Yaney, 38, New York, New York, pled guilty to mortgage fraud and was sentenced by United States District Judge J. Phil Gilbert to 18 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release. Yaney made several misrepresentations and engaged in numerous fraudulent acts in order to persuade lenders to finance the purported $9,780,000 sale of one of the rental properties.
Mark Yaffe, 55, Tampa, Florida, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud admitting his role in misrepresenting the extent of company collateral to Sovereign Bank in order to borrow $35 million.
Arlene Jeanette Mojardin, 32, Bakersfield, California, was sentenced by United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii to two years and six months in prison for conspiring to commit bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud, in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme in Bakersfield.