Posts tagged as:

mortgage scams

Hawaii loan officer get 5 months in prison for home stealing scheme

by Moe Bedard

The family was nearly evicted by the mortgage con, and has been living in limbo ever since. Theirs was one of the first homes stolen in what became a common scheme. Mortgage companies promising to save a family from foreclosure actually fooled them into signing title over to a straw buyer and then sucked out [...]

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Two men sent to prison for short sale scams

by Moe Bedard

Federal prosecutors have said Nanan was part of a short-sale scheme with fellow Taylor, Bean & Whitaker employee Victor Cedeno.

Nanan and Cedeno worked with real-estate agents, homebuyers, lenders and title agents during sales financed by Taylor, Bean & Whitaker.

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4 arrested in Florida $6 million mortgage fraud ring

by Moe Bedard

MIAMI — Four South Florida residents have been charged in a $6 million mortgage fraud scheme.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office made the announcement Tuesday. Arrested were 53-year-old Carlos Cano of Delray Beach; 34-year-old Robyn Colon of Boynton Beach; 52-year-old Jose L. Colon of Boynton Beach; and 40-year-old Maria L. Lozada of Miami.

They were charged with one [...]

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FTC: Foreclosure scams are like viruses

by Moe Bedard

“All these scams are like viruses or bugs — they adapt and modify,” Baker said.
The FTC says the new scam is the offer of a home audit or lawsuit to get the lenders off your back.

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Haitian man gets 17 years in prison for mortgage fraud

by Moe Bedard

A Haitian man was sentenced Monday to nearly 17 years in prison for leading a mortgage fraud scheme in Phoenix that authorities say cost banks about $9.5 million.
Federal prosecutors say 51-year-old Mario G. Bernadel was convicted last

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Mortgage broker who fled to Iran gets 9 years in prison

by Moe Bedard

A Potomac man who fled to Iran after embezzling millions of dollars from Washington-area banks was sentenced to nine years in prison.
A federal judge also ordered 49-year-old Michael Milan to pay more than $4 million in fines and restitution. Milan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to

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Ricardo Melgoza defies the DRE as he scams more homeowners

by Moe Bedard

Homeowners are desperate and when desperation sets in, mistakes in judgement are made.
Mistakes that may cost them their home.
A Bakersfield, California woman, Zuleyka Ruiz had to find this out the hard way. Not only did Ruiz end up $1,500 poorer, she also ended up losing her home to a man named Ricardo Melgoza. Melgoza had already been ordered [...]

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New Jersey woman sentenced to 2-5 years for foreclosure scams

by Moe Bedard

TUNKHANNOCK – A New Jersey woman who claimed to help people with potential foreclosure problems was sentenced in Wyoming County on Thursday for theft by deception.

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FBI arrest New Jersey cop for mortgage fraud

by Moe Bedard

A Jersey City police officer was arrested yesterday by the FBI and charged in federal court with mortgage fraud for lying to a bank to secure a roughly $530,000 loan, authorities said.
Brian Ragauckas, 36, of Secaucus, falsely claimed he was a first-time home buyer in 2008 when he applied for a loan from Countrywide Bank [...]

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Trinity Law Associates – Lawyer Timothy D. Thurman accused of defrauding Korean homeowners

by Moe Bedard

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, attorneys with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center accused a Los Angeles law firm, Trinity Law Associates Inc., of defrauding at least 28 Korean immigrants out of thousands of dollars by falsely promising that their services would prevent foreclosures. Testimony indicates that the firm targeted hundreds of other Korean immigrants, [...]

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NY strip club owners caught in $2 million mortgage scam

by Moe Bedard

The mother-and-son owners of the strip club where Sean Bell was killed were nabbed Tuesday in a $2 million mortgage fraud scam.
Queens prosecutors say Martina Duran, 57, and Roger Arias, 36, used

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Mortgage fraud cases swamping South Carolina investigators

by Moe Bedard

“It’s one of those things that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, but the numbers are staggering right now, and I think they are going nowhere but up,” said Reggie Lloyd, director of the State Law Enforcement Division and a former U.S. attorney for South Carolina.

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Fake mortgage broker gets 8 years for his loan crimes

by Moe Bedard

An Ocala man who posed as a mortgage broker and submitted falsified loan documents to a now-fallen national mortgage home lender has been ordered to serve an eight-year prison sentence.
Hector L. Rivera, 53, was arrested in December 2008 on one count of racketeering, four counts of fraudulent use of personal

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Loan Help Solutions: Nathan Livingston ordered to cease and desist by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance

by Moe Bedard

Department of Banking and Finance’s Order to Cease and Desist Issued to Nathan Livingston d/b/a Loan Help Solutions d/b/a www.loanhelpsolutions.net d/b/a Mortgage Help Solutions Becomes Final
Atlanta, Georgia – On February 26, 2010, an Order to Cease and Desist issued by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance (“Department”) to Nathan Livingston d/b/a Loan Help Solutions [...]

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Brooklyn mortgage broker receives two years in prison

by Moe Bedard

A 41-year-old Brooklyn Center mortgage broker was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in prison for defrauding clients of more than $800,000.
Terry L. Lemke, owner of All Metro Title, was sentenced in federal court in St. Paul after pleading guilty in August to wire fraud and money laundering.

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Washington DC attorney charged in loan modification scheme charged with bank fraud

by Moe Bedard

A Washington, D.C. lawyer, accused late last year of collecting more than $1.2 million from homeowners with false promises to arrange loan modifications, has been charged with bank fraud after depositing $2.4 million in counterfeit checks at several banks.

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Judge bummed out because broker only got a 3 year sentence

by Moe Bedard

U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore made it clear she disapproved of the short sentence and said prosecutors had tied her hands by reindicting Lapin on a count that carried a maximum sentence of three years. She also fined Lapin $60,000.
“A monkey could give the sentence I’m giving today. There’s nothing I can do,” Gilmore said [...]

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Real estate broker: The whole Hispanic population can be likened to trained pigs coming to a trough

by Moe Bedard

DORA stated the defendants focused their advertising in traditional Spanish media markets and used affinity marketing techniques, such as using bilingual sales staff to lure buyers to specific properties that they were not financially qualified to buy, according to a prepared release.
Many homebuyers were promised that they would refinance in a few years and make [...]

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Realtor charged with murder for hire scheme

by Moe Bedard

A disgraced Toronto realt-estate agent faces four charges in a murder-for-hire plot that allegedly targeted two of his business associates and a friend.
Pietro Castelluzzo, 58, was arrested on four charges of counsel to commit murder, authorities announced yesterday.

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Mortgage Fraud Task Force to uncover civil and criminal wrongdoing

by Moe Bedard

The government, convinced that the fraud and foreclosure problem here is worse than expected, has formed a Mortgage Fraud Task Force to uncover civil and criminal wrongdoing among brokers, lenders and buyers.
“It’s a much larger problem than first forecast,” U.S. Attorney Kathleen M. Mehltretter said of mortgage foreclosures here.
The multiagency task force, led by the [...]

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