We completed an audit of Mortgage Access Corporation, doing business as Weichert Financial Services, a nonsupervised lender located in Morris Plains, New Jersey. The audit objectives were to determine whether Mortgage Access Corporation (1) approved insured loans in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)/Federal Housing Administration (FHA) requirements, and (2) developed and implemented a quality control plan...

We audited A Plus Mortgage, Inc. (A Plus), to determine whether (1) the fees charged to Federal Housing Administration (FHA) borrowers by A Plus were appropriate under U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), FHA, and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) regulations and (2) the loan officers originating FHA-insured loans were employees of A Plus. A Plus disregarded HUD FHA requirements and provisions of RESPA and engaged...

We audited HUD's controls over the FHA appraiser roster in response to a single-family loan origination audit that had raised concerns about FHA appraisers and appraisals. We reviewed HUD's appraiser roster (roster) to determine whether HUD's controls over the roster were adequate to ensure that only qualified/eligible appraisers were placed on the roster and whether the oversight and maintenance of the roster were sufficient to...

HUD OIG audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Quality Assurance Division because the results of some previous OIG audits indicated that the Quality Assurance Division might not have consistently followed its requirements. Our objective was to determine whether HUD's Quality Assurance Division consistently required Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved lenders to indemnify loans with similar...

Attached is the final report on our audit of the Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, branch of National City Mortgage (branch office), Audit Report Number 2008-PH-1002, dated November 20, 2007. We selected the branch office because its default rate was above the state's default rate. Our objective was to determine whether the branch office complied with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations, procedures, and...

BOSTON – Three Massachusetts men were charged today in federal court in Boston in connection with a 10-year mortgage fraud scheme involving at least two dozen fraudulent loan transactions and $4.3 million in losses to lenders. George Kritopoulos, 46, of Salem, a real estate developer, was arrested today and charged with one count of conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud, six counts of bank fraud, one count of aiding the preparation of a false...

The owner of a former real estate escrow firm was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 24 months in prison for bank fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. LORI LYNN ANDREW, 49, of Cashmere, Washington, the owner of Hartman Escrow, Inc., pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud.  ANDREW stole more than $2.1 million through a variety of techniques, including making false entries in escrow closing documents,...

BOSTON – A Methuen real estate broker was sentenced today in connection with a sweeping conspiracy to defraud banks and mortgage companies by engaging in sham “short” sales of residential properties in Merrimack Valley. Greisy Jimenez, 50, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf to three years in prison, four years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a fine of $12,500. The court will determine issues of restitution...

(Source: orangecountyda.org) Case # 17CF2429 Date: July 17, 2018 MAN SENTENCED TO EIGHT YEARS IN PRISON FOR UNLAWFUL LOAN MODIFICATION AND MONEY LAUNDERING AFTER DEFRAUDING NEARLY $2.3 MILLION FROM 387 HOMEOWNERS SANTA ANA, Calif. – A man was convicted and sentenced on Friday to eight years in state prison for operating an unlawful loan modification and money laundering scam that defrauded nearly $2.3 million from 387 homeowners.  ...

BOSTON – A real estate attorney was sentenced today in connection with a sweeping conspiracy to defraud banks and mortgage companies by engaging in sham “short” sales of residential properties in Merrimack Valley. Jasmin Polanco, 37, of Methuen, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to 15 months in prison, three year of supervised release and ordered to pay $1,224,489 in restitution. In March 2018, Polanco...

BOSTON – A mortgage loan officer was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston in connection with a sweeping conspiracy to defraud banks and mortgage companies by engaging in sham “short” sales of residential properties in Merrimack Valley. Vanessa Ricci, 41, of Methuen, a mortgage loan officer, was sentenced to six months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $963,730. In March 2018, Ricci pleaded...

NEWARK, N.J. – A Jackson, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for his role in a large-scale mortgage fraud scheme that used phony documents and straw buyers to acquire more than $6 million in loans, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. Joseph DiValli previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to a superseding information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one...

CHICAGO (CBS) — It’s back to jail, at least for now, for a man accused of defrauding more than 100 Chicago seniors. CBS 2’s Jim Williams reports a federal judge hasn’t yet decided if Mark Diamond should be released on bond. Barbara Bailey’s mother was a victim. She says she wants the man responsible to stay in jail. “If Mr. Diamond is out, he can still go into the neighborhood or contact people to still scheme and defraud people,” says Bailey....

CHICAGO -- A man accused of scamming elderly Chicagoans out of their homes was in federal court Thursday for a bond hearing. Prosecutors want the judge to deny bond for Mark Diamond. He and an alleged accomplice, Cynthia Wallace, are charged with fraud. Prosecutors say they conned people into fake reverse mortgages, swindling $10 million. There are 120 victims, mostly black women on the South and West sides. Some have died.

NEWARK, N.J. - Five individuals were arrested this morning and charged with using phony money orders, cashier’s checks, receipts and other fabricated documents to fraudulently discharge mortgages, student loans, and other financial obligations, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. Melissa Reynolds, 42, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, is charged by complaint with three counts of conspiracy to commit bank and mail fraud, two counts of bank fraud,...