James Monahan, 44, New York, New York, owner of real estate investment company Panam Management Group, Inc., and a former sergeant in the New York City Police Department, was sentenced to 58 months in prison for obtaining approximately $4.7 million from investors for a real estate development project he claimed to be constructing and then misappropriated those funds. The real estate project was never developed and investors lost all of their money.
Archives For November 30, 1999
Salmaan Siddiqui, a former Vice President in the Investment Banking Division of Credit Suisse Group, was sentenced to time served in connection with a scheme to hide more than $100 million in losses in a mortgage-backed securities trading book at Credit Suisse.
David Pizio, 58, Jamesville, New York, entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court to the felony offense of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. The defendant is facing a statutory maximum of 30 years imprisonment and a maximum fine of $1,000,000.00.
Sofia Atias, 44, Great Neck, New York, Joseph Atias, 50, Great Neck, Nicholas A. Pellegrini, 51, Garden City, New York, and Paula Berckhoff, 34, Garden City, have been charged with bank fraud and conspiracy for allegedly defrauding Bank of America of over half a million dollars by avoiding foreclosure on a home through a fraudulent short sale of the property to a straw buyer.
A six-count indictment was unsealed in federal court charging six people with bank and wire fraud concerning their alleged participation in a scheme to defraud lenders using fraudulent loan applications, falsified HUD-1 Settlement Statements and inflated appraisals.
David Higgs, a former Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division of Credit Suisse Group, was sentenced to time served in connection with a scheme to hide more than $100 million in losses in a mortgage-backed securities trading book at Credit Suisse.
Rodney Walker, 44, Atlanta, Georgia, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara, to wire fraud for his role in a scam whereby the defendant promised a standby letter of credit, which he could monetize into $100 million in loans.
Barry Stephen Zornberg, 54, Hauppauge, New York, pleaded guilty at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, to lying to federal investigators about his role in a million-dollar foreclosure rescue fraud scheme. The scheme ensnared at least 10 families, defrauding them of approximately $1.3 million in home equity and caused some of them to lose their homes.
Ralph Pecorale, Long Island, New York, a real estate lawyer, has been cleared of mortgage fraud charges after a Brooklyn, New York, Supreme Court judge dismissed an 18-count indictment against him, though the charges against the six other defendants remained in place.
Keith Anthony, 46, Elmont, New York, the former President and owner of a company that purported to provide financing for home purchases to people with poor credit, and a former employee of the company, Anthony Podias, 39, Levittown, New York, have been indicted for their alleged participation in a scheme that victimized more than 100 financially struggling people across the country.