The United States filed a civil complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California today against Plaza Bank of Irvine, California, for knowingly facilitating consumer fraud by permitting a third-party payment processor to make millions of dollars of unauthorized withdrawals from consumer bank accounts on behalf of fraudulent merchants. To resolve …
In September I covered a story about two leaders of the Hells Angels that had been accused of mortgage fraud. A mortgage broker in the San Francisco bay area was charged with conspiracy to arrange more than $10 million in fraudulent home loans including the two Hells Angels leaders. Raymond Foakes, former President of the …
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced they are requiring “U.S. Homeowners Relief” defendants to pay millions in their settlement along with banning them from the debt and mortgage relief business. The FTC had charged six defendants (that have agreed to settle) in the participation of a fraudulent mortgage modifications and foreclosure relief scheme. The settlement …
Earlier this month it was announced that Lisa Wright, Cathy Saffer and Carrington Coombs were all charged with fraud in a Florida foreclosure rescure scheme. Wright and Saffer were charged with conspiracy to defraud homeowners and banks in a foreclosure rescue scheme. Coombs, a certified public accountant, was also charged as a participant in the …
Andrew Hamilton Williams, Jr., was convicted last week in Maryland of fraud conspiracy, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection to a massive mortgage fraud scheme. The scheme, entitled “Metro Dream Homes” promised to pay off homeowners’ mortgages on the homes of their dreams but instead left them high and dry. According …
Mid-trial a mother and daughter fraudster team, along with an accomplice from Las Vegas, pleaded guilty to participating in a mortgage fraud scheme that lead to more than $1.9 million in mortgage loan losses to lenders. Mother, Patricia Smith, pleaded guilty to Counts Four and Five of the Superseding Indictment, which charged her with wire …
Banks are re-examining loans that took place during the housing boom and are now finding problems which has resulted in a large jump of reported mortgage-fraud. Reports are showing an 88 percent jump in the second quarter according to the Treasury Department. “Most of the mortgages suspected of fraud closed during the height of the …
David Findel, former CEO of Worldwide Financial Resources, a mortgage origination firm in New Jersey, was sentenced to 63 months in prison on September 27, 2011 for a connection with an $11 million fraudulent loan scheme. Previously, Findel pleaded guilty to an Information charging him with wire fraud. According to the Information to which Findel …