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Fraud
Stories
From
Patrick
Crowley
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Fraud
News Wire
| Last Updated |
Friday, April 6, 2007, |
04:49 PM |
Texas Time |
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Crooked Lawyers
A former Kansas elected official who is in trouble along with her
attorney husband for alleged mortgage fraud highlights the latest edition
of Lawyers Gone Wild.
Katheryn Shields, 60, the former Jackson County executive and her
husband, attorney Philip Cardarella, 59, have been indicted along with
nine other people on federal charges of "conspiracy and wire fraud for
their role in a scheme to engage in mortgage fraud," according to a
statement from U.S. Attorney Bradley Schlozman.
"This case represents another tragic example of intelligent individuals
-- including lawyers and prominent elected officials -- thumbing their
noses at the law in the pursuit of quick and easy cash," said Schlozman,
the U.S. Attorney for the Western District if Missouri in Kansas
City.
The couple could not be reached to comment, but they have maintained
their innocence in published reports.
MortgageDaily.com
subscribers read Patrick's full story
Legislator
Accused of Foreclosure Fraud
The Maryland Attorney General is looking
into claims
that a state legislator duped a woman into
selling
her home to him.
In a lawsuit filed in Anne Arundel County
Circuit
Court, Teresa Milligan accuses Maryland
State Delegate
William "Tony" McConkey, a Republican and a
real
estate broker, of foreclosure rescue
fraud.
McConkey has denied Milligan's claims that
he somehow
tricked Milligan into singing over her
house to
him.
Kevin Enright, a spokesman for Maryland
Attorney
General J. Joseph Curran, confirmed to
MortgageDaily.com
that the attorney general's office is
"looking into
the matter."
MortgageDaily.com
subscribers read Patrick's full
story
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April 6, 2007
Experts
Broadcast Latest Mortgage Scams
Mortgage Fraud Radio Series panel will include
Ann Fulmer
6 Convicted of Mortgage
Fraud
Six people, including Brandon L. Baum, each
face up to 20 years in prison after being found
guilty of defrauding various mortgage lenders
through false loan applications in which home
sales prices were inflated to profit from the
extra loan proceeds.
read story from The Edmond Sun
Tips to Avoid Fraudulent
Mortgages
Paying large fees in advance for home buying
seminars and signing documents without having
clear knowledge of what they consist of are
some of the ways people fall victims to mortgage
scams, which typically target those with overextended
or bad credit.
read story from Best Syndication
Couple Sentenced for
HUD Fraud
Former mortgage broker Jay Snyder and her boyfriend,
handyman and electrician Mark Wilkins were sentenced
for collaborating in an illegal "double
HUD" technique in buying houses to fix
that involved inflated sales figures to obtain
mortgages worth more than the homes.
read story from The Chattanoogan
Ex-CEO Sentenced for
Fraud
Former DreamLife Financial chief executive and
mortgage broker, Tony Daniloo, was sentenced
to nearly 8 years in prison for defrauding lenders
and elderly consumers out of more than $4.5
million for his personal expenses.
read story from the San Francisco Gate
April 5, 2007
Sentenced Brothers
Side with Government
In order to reduce their five-years-plus prison
sentences for committing mortgage fraud against
ABN Amro, James and Eric Byrd agreed to cooperate
with federal authorities as a means to prosecute
others involved.
read story from The Greenville News
Meteorologist Escapes
Prison Sentence
Instead of serving prison time for committing
mortgage fraud, Neal Pascal, a former TV weatherman,
was sentenced to three years of probation and
three months under house arrest.
read story from WDEF News 12
April 4, 2007
Fraud Suit Names Mortgage
Insiders
A lawsuit, alleging a mortgage scam in which
a woman's personal information was used to buy
homes without her knowledge, named attorney
Robert Spence, loan officer Annetha Dunn and
Carol Daniels of Freemont Investment and Loan
in Florida amongst the defendants.
read story from the The Daily Record
3
Admit Lying for Mortgages
Each plead guilty to making false statements
on mortgage applications.
ID
Theft in Worst Mortgage Fraud
Data security expert seeks tougher action fraudsters.
Mortgage Brokers Admit
Fraud
Mortgage brokers Jennifer Henson and Darren
Moyer plan to plead guilty to mortgage fraud,
while former meteorologist Neal Pascal, associated
with Henson, awaits sentencing for his guilty
plea.
read story from News Channel 9
2 Charged in ID Theft
Case
Michael Hartsell and Patricia McIntosh have
ben charged with nearly 200 counts of identity
theft involving the use of a mortgage finance
company to steal the personal information of
over 100 victims.
read story from CBS 8
Family Faces Prison
Safieh Fard, one of hers sons and her sister
turned themselves in to authorities after another
son of Fard was arrested and now all face prison
-- a combined 290 years -- for allegedly not
paying taxes on property sales profit and lying
on mortgage loan applications.
read story from The Orange County Register
Brothers Sentenced
for Mortgage Fraud
Brothers James and Eric Byrd were sentenced
to over five years in prison and ordered to
pay over $5.6 million in restitution for using
false mortgage information and bad checks to
defraud seven banks.
read story from the WYFF 4
April 3, 2007
Tool
Helps Detect Multiple Closings
Multi-Closing Alert notifies lenders of potential
multiple closings.
Fraudulent
Doc Detection Courses for Mortgagees
Exclusive AllRegs academy training and designation.
Group
Educates on Anti-Money Laundering
The Edcomm Group’s Bankers Academy showcases
training at the 12th annual money laundering
international conference.
Expert Advises Broker
to Dump Borrower
A broker is told, by a real estate columnist,
that he will be participating in fraud if he
helps a borrower obtain a cash-out refinance
loan the borrower plans to let go into foreclosure.
read story from the Los Angeles Times
Landlord Under Investigation
for Alleged Fraud
Rex Wells, a large landlord of rental property,
is under federal investigation and is subject
of a lawsuit by ABN Amro, which alleges that
Wells schemed with a mortgage broker, a property
appraiser and a title company to get 149 fraudulent
mortgages for three investors that were worth
$2.5 million more than the houses were worth.
read story from the Journal Gazette
"Foreclosure Rescue"
on the Rise
While "foreclosure rescue" scams that
strip equity from borrowers have been around
for years, they've proliferated over the last
five years as the housing cool down has cut
the ability of some borrowers to refinance into
other loans and left some unable to meet the
higher payments caused by interest rate resets
on subprime, adjustable-rate mortgages.
read story from the American News
Broker Charged with
Duping Investors
Real estate broker Sayeda Moin faces up to 15
years in prison for allegedly defrauding investors
out of $600,000 in cash and property by using
for her own expenses checks that two investors
gave her to cover fees for the purchase of homes
and by signing over to her name the property
of one investor without the investor's knowledge.
read story from the Queens Chronicle
How to Avoid ID Theft
To avoid being a victim of identity theft, which
can affect credit and lead to higher interest
rates on or denial of a mortgage, consumers
were advised to check their credit card accounts
online frequently and take advantage of getting
a free copy of their credit report each year
to detect any suspicious activity.
read story from WRAL
3 Admit Mortgage Fraud
Bekim Hasipi, Robin Dorman and Jan Marquiss
admitted that they participated as "nominee
borrowers" in a scheme -- allegedly led
by a former manager of certain Countrywide Home
Loans and American Home Mortgage branches, Kourosh
Partrow -- in which income and assets were overstated
on mortgage applications to net at least $750,000
in profits.
read story from the Anchorage Daily News
Conditions for Fraud
Exist Everywhere
The mortgage industry is not immune to the conditions
that gave rise to the Enron fraud scandal and
can likewise suffer financial losses and diminished
credibility with creditors.
read story from the Denver Business Journal
Broker Charged with
Fraud
Robin Neil Snyder was indicted on charges involving
promoting Mortgage Bankers Ltd. as a commercial
lender capable of providing "difficult”
or “impossible” loans of up to $300
million, when he actually had insufficient funds
available and netted over $330,000 on advance
fees he required for "origination"
of the loans, amongst other things.
read story from The Examiner
How to Avoid Mortgage
Fraud
Never signing blank or incomplete documents
and being wary of "no money down"
or "cash back at closing" investment
opportunities were included in the tips the
Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial
Institutions and Professional Registration issued
as a means to encourage consumers and professionals
to identify and prevent mortgage fraud.
read story from Springfield Business Journal
FDIC: Homeowners Beware
of Ads
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said there
are deceptive advertisements suggesting there
is a "Community Reinvestment Act Program"
that entitles some homeowners to cash grants
and that some of these "questionable solicitations"
imply the agency's endorsement -- but borrowers
should not confuse such with the Community Reinvestment
Act and when using their home as a security
for a loan should compare various lenders' programs.
read story from News Channel 10
Four Accused of ID
Fraud
Michael Alexander Hartsell and Patricia Ann
McIntosh, who were arrested last week, and Natasha
Chiara Di Lorenzo and William Andrew Padworski,
who are already in prison on other charges,
are accused of using First Choice Mortgage to
access the Experian, TransUnion and Equifax
credit agency records to steal information and
use it to open credit card accounts in the names
of at least 100 of the mortgage company's customers.
read story from the Daily Bulletin
March 30, 2007
Beazer Subpoenaed
Allegations of mortgage fraud at the lending
subsidiary of a publicly-traded homebuilder
have led to a grand jury subpoena.
read story from MortgageDaily.com
Delinquent Borrowers Deceived
A flyer advertising foreclosure assistance was
enough for one borrower to end up losing $60,000
in equity.
read story from CBS4
Bad Broker
Mortgage broker Robin Neil Snyder and his company
Mortgage Bankers Ltd. were indicted for taking
loan application fees for mortgages that could
not be funded.
read story from the Daily Record
Police Promote Legislation
Miami-Dade police detectives, who are overwhelmed
with recent cases of mortgage fraud, helped
initiate HB 359 -- new legislation designed
to crack down on real estate fraud.
read story from the Chicago Tribune
Realtor Scams Clients
Unlicensed real estate broker Sayeda Moin of
Long Island was charged with defrauding investors
out of more than $600,000 in cash and property.
read story from the Queens Chronicle
Phishing Credit Bureau
Databases
Michael Hartsell, through his company First
Choice Mortgage, is accused of leading a crime
ring that stole $1 million by obtaining personal
identification information from credit bureau
databases.
read story from the San Diego Union Tribune
Politician Preventing Property
Theft
Philadelphia City Councilman Bill Greenlea has
introduced a bill aimed at stopping property
identity theft.
read story from KYW NewsRadio 1060
Home Grant Ads a Scam
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
reported borrowers were being fraudulently solicited
for unavailable grants for their homes.
read story from the Houston Chronicle
Family Crime Business
Brothers Ramzy and Kamal Moumneh are accused
of stealing more than $2 million in home equity
while Chuong X. Dam, 33, Demetrios J. Voiklis,
32, and Kimberly Brothers, 28, were alleged
to have helped the brothers in foreclosure fraud
through First Hanover Mortgage Corp.
read story from St. Petersburg Times
Worst Choice Mortgage
First Choice Mortgage was operated as a bogus
company by four people to deceive people into
giving up their personal information.
read article at KPBS
read story from KPBS
Dead Fraud
Mark S. Edwards and co-defendant Mark D. Musselman
of Vandalia, Ohio-based Phoenix Funding Inc.
obtained nearly a dozen loans on behalf of deceased
persons.
read story from the Daytona Daily News |
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Patrick
Crowley is fraud journalist for MortgageDaily.com
and a reporter and columnist
for The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Email Patrick at: PatCrowl
ey@FraudBlogger.com |
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