January 12th, 2012 at 10:17pm
Leilani Luahiwa, 52, has been charged with elder financial abuse and theft for stealing her mother’s home.
Luahiwa’s 87-year old mother thought she was signing paperwork that would make her daughter her caregiver. She only learned she no longer owned the home when another daughter discovered the property taxes had not been paid for four years.
The case was investigated by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
Read the original article on ABC 7.
December 6th, 2011 at 9:33am
An unnamed employee in the Stanislaus County Recorder’s Office is the hero in discovering an alleged foreclosure rescue fraud perpetrated on up to 1,000 victims.
Suspicious fillings to a company called Pacifica Group 49-II caused the Recorder’s Office to contact the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office. Investigator Glenn Gulley says that possibly 30 victims have been found in Stanislaus County but further digging found victims outside of the area.
The indictees include Brent Medearis, 45, the CEO of Modesto-based VIP Financial Services; Jewell L. Hinkles, 61, aka Cydney Sanchez; Bernadette Guidry, 43; Jesse Wheeler, 34; and Cynthia Corn, 58. All five defendants have been charged with multiple counts of bankruptcy fraud; two are also facing mail fraud charges.
The 2 1/2 year investigation was undertaken cooperatively by the FBI, the U.S. Postal Service and other federal agencies, in addition to the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office.
Read the original article in the Modesto Bee.
November 30th, 2011 at 3:59pm
JPMorgan Chase has temporarily lost the battle to evict an almost 104-year old woman and her 83-year old daughter from the Atlanta home they have shared for many years.
Chase, which is servicing the loan for mortgage holder Deutsche Bank, had approved the eviction, which Vita Lee and her daughter had been fighting apparently for several years. But when the deputies from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department and the movers showed up, they decided to walk away rather than forcefully remove the women.
While this posting is not about fraud, it is about the human side of the housing recession and the underreporting of the suffering that occurs.
Read the article and watch the video on MSNBC.com.
October 6th, 2011 at 8:55am
Six peope in the Sacramento area have been indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiring to commit mortgage fraud.
Angela Shavlovsky, 52, is accused of finding straw buyers to submit fraudulent loan applications (loan fraud). Alexander Kokhanets, 38; Boris Murzak, 40; Zinaida Murzak, 40; and Vitaliy Tuzman, 31, are accused of selling homes at inflated prices by falsifying loan improvement and repair documents.
Losses to the lenders are estimated to be just under $2 million.
Read the original article in the Sacramento Bee.
September 20th, 2011 at 1:52pm
Five Sacramento-area residents have been charged by a federal grand jury for ripping off 180 investors to the tune of $26 million in what appears to be a Ponzi scheme.
Alleged ringleader, Michael Bolden, 57, is no stranger to law enforcement. Back in 1994, the former air traffic controller was sentenced to 21 months for falsifying tax documents in order to qualify for home loans (loan fraud).
Bolden ran Diversified Management Consultants Inc., or DMC, a firm that acted as an umbrella organization over half a dozen investment clubs. Many of the investors pulled equity out of their homes and some have had to file bankruptcy. Much of the investment money was used, according to the grand jury, by Bolden to buy luxury cars and pay for improvements to his home.
The other defendants are Christopher Jackson, 43; Victor Alvarado, 50; and Nicholo Arceo, 38, and his wife Erica Arceo, 43. Gary Bradford, 62, a sixth defendant who ran one of the investment clubs, has already pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud and will be sentenced in April 2012.
Read the original article in the Sacramento Bee.
August 18th, 2011 at 5:13pm
Walter Daniel Olmstead, 39, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to rig bids at an auction in San Joaquin County and mail fraud. So far, seven other involved in the conspiracy have entered guilty please: Anthony Ghio, John Vanzetti, Theodore Hutz, Richard Northcutt, Yama Marifat and Gregory Jackson.
Olmstead was a real estate investor who apparently conspired with others to make illicit profits at the auctions. The group would agree which person was to make the bid, while the others would refrain from bidding. After winning the bid, the property would be sold to whoever was willing to pay the most from the property. The difference would be divided among the conspirators then.
The scheme attracted attention not only from the Attorney General’s office but their Anti-Trust Division. U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner prosecuted the case.
Olmstead could be sentenced to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for the bid rigging and 30 years plus a $1 million fine for the mail fraud charge.
Read the original article in the Modesto Bee.
June 23rd, 2011 at 12:20pm
A third long-time employee of the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety has been fired after it was determined that he, along with the two prior fired inspectors, had been taking bribes for approving work by contractors.
Albert Acosta, 54, a 27-year employee who earned more than $83,000 annually, was fired for soliciting bribes according to department spokesman David Lara.
Thus far, the corruption probe into the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety has resulted in Hugo Gonzalez, 49, of Eagle Rock and Raoul Germain, 60 of Altadena being fired after pleading guilty to charges of taking bribes. Samuel In, a code enforcement inspector in the department’s Koreatown office, retired after being placed on leave after complaints were made about bribe demands from him. And Frank Rojas, who was in the department’s West Los Angeles office, also quit after being placed on leave.
Robert “Bud” Ovrom, the top executive for the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, has announced that the investigation by the FBI as well as the internal investigation has now been turned to supervisors at Building and Safety.
Read the original article in the Los Angeles Times.
May 7th, 2011 at 10:23am
One of two inspectors for the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court to one count of taking bribes.
Inspector Raoul Joseph Germain, 60, of Altadena, confessed to taking a $6,000 from an undercover agent who posed as a contractor in South Los Angeles. The bribe was for signing off on four houses for which Germain admitted he had never been on site.
Germain’s fellow defendant defendant, Hugo Joel Gonzalez, 49, of Eagle Rock, is set for a trial date in June for taking $9,000 in bribes. Both men were arrested after an informant for a developer complained to the FBI that the developer was being routine shaken down by the two inspectors.
The two men received $85,000 – $90,000 salaries plus benefits. Hopefully Germain will not only be fired, but lose his pension as well, as there should be no reward for public corruption.
Read the full article in the Daily News.
January 7th, 2011 at 9:56am
Lisa Green has just been sworn in as Kern County’s District Attorney, taking over from Ed Jagels, who has retired after 28 years of service as D.A.
The good news for crime victims is that Green, who worked under Jagels for 27 years, has an impressive record and promises to continue to aggressively prosecute criminals, including those who commit real estate fraud, mortgage fraud and other financial crimes.
Read the full article in the Bakersfield Californian.
October 28th, 2010 at 2:49pm
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office has filed charges against four men who victimized people by fraudulently filling out of quit claims, taking over properties and renting them. The men are Carlos Mendez Torres, 29; Manuel Patlan Torres, 60; Oscar Alvarez Macias, 35; and John Anthony Zepeda, 59.
Law enforcement believes there are victims in Bakersfield, Fresno and Nevada; some of the victims were members of two law enforcement.
Read the full article in the Press Enterprise.
