LITTLE ROCK—Patrick C. Harris, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Tracey D. Montaño, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation Division, and Phyllis G. Robinson, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)—Office of Inspector General, announced today that Chief United States District Judge Brian S. Miller sentenced Rhonda Williams, 50, and...

TRENTON –Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced that five additional individuals were charged criminally today with filing fraudulent applications for federal relief funds related to Superstorm Sandy. Since March 2014, the Attorney General’s Office has filed criminal charges against 96 people for allegedly engaging in this type of fraud, including the five individuals just charged. The Attorney General’s Office is continuing its...

CITYSIDE MANAGEMENT CORPORATION PAYS $4.3 MILLION TO RESOLVE FALSE CLAIMS ACT ALLEGATIONS Office of the United States Attorney Eastern District of California U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, July 26, 2017 www.justice.gov/edca CONTACT: LAUREN HORWOOD PHONE: 916-554-2706 [email protected] CITYSIDE MANAGEMENT CORPORATION PAYS $4.3 MILLION TO RESOLVE FALSE CLAIMS ACT ALLEGATIONS FRESNO, Calif. —...

TRENTON, N.J. – A former salesman at Bayway Lumber, a Linden, New Jersey, company that sold commercial and industrial products to numerous public and private entities, today admitted his role in a scheme to defraud customers and lying to a federal grand jury, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced. Adam Martignetti, 43, of South River, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan in Trenton federal...

Tampa, FL – Acting United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow announces a civil settlement with Alexander Olympus Zarris that resolves alleged violations of the False Claims Act (“FCA”) and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”) through reverse mortgage transactions engineered by Zarris at a Tarpon Springs condominium complex. Zarris will pay $475,000 to address the damage his conduct caused to a...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Three California residents were sentenced today to a combined 39 years in prison for their roles in a nationwide, multi-year “home mortgage modification” fraud that scammed thousands of vulnerable victims out of at least $11 million.  Sammy Araya, 41, of Santa Ana, was sentenced to 20 years, Michael Henderson, 49, of Costa Mesa, was sentenced to 12 years, and Jen Seko, 36, of Anaheim, was sentenced to 7 years in prison,...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Vice President of Porter Drywall and Black Star Drywall, Inc. was sentenced in U.S. District Court to five years of probation and ordered to pay more than $25,000 in restitution to the IRS for filing a false income tax return. As a condition of his probation, Robert E. Porter, 53, of Westerville, Ohio, must ensure that Porter Drywall subscribes to proper governmental forms and otherwise complies with all tax, labor and...

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that BRADFORD BARNEYS, 51, of Odenton, Maryland, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 30 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervise release, for conspiring with Timothy W. Burke in a long-running fraud scheme that targeted distressed homeowners throughout Connecticut. BARNEYS was an attorney licensed to...

NEWARK, N.J. – A former high-ranking employee of the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corp. (NWCDC) was sentenced today to 96 months in prison for accepting $956,948 in kickback payments for his and the former executive director’s assistance in awarding work to contractors, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced. Donald Bernard Sr., 69, of West Orange, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District...

CHICAGO — A Chicago businessman has been arraigned on federal fraud charges for his alleged role in a scheme to bilk elderly homeowners out of millions of dollars. MARK STEVEN DIAMOND, a mortgage loan originator with offices in Chicago and Calumet City, engaged in a home repair and loan fraud scheme that targeted elderly homeowners and lenders, according to the indictment. Diamond fraudulently caused lenders to make reverse-mortgage loans to...

The United States has intervened in a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and the CRA/LA (formerly the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles) alleging that they falsely certified compliance with federal accessibility laws in connection with claims submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for housing grants, the Department of Justice announced today. The accessibility laws allegedly violated...

(Source: sandiegouniontribune.com) Mental Health Systems, the San Diego charity that last year was the subject of allegations of misconduct and lavish spending on luxury hotels and limousines, failed to properly account for more than $140,000 in federal housing funds, a new audit states. “MHS did not allocate its payroll costs to Continuum of Care and Supportive Housing Program grants in accordance with program requirements,” U.S. Housing and...

(Source: beverlyreview.net) One of four men found guilty of illegally taking over several vacant homes in Beverly/Morgan Park two years ago, a practice commonly known as squatting, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison. David Farr, also known as Fahim Ali, was admitted into the Northern Reception and Classification Center in Joliet on May 24, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). His projected parole date and discharge...

SANTA ANA, California – An Orange County man pleaded guilty this morning to federal charges relating to his operation of a fraud scheme that took $2.2 million from distressed homeowners through false promises that he could help them avoid foreclosure by obtaining modifications to their mortgages. Kevin Frank Rasher, 45, who has been in custody since his arrest at his Coto de Caza residence one year ago, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of mail fraud...

(Source: chicagotribune.com) A man previously described as the ring leader of a criminal enterprise that illegally took possession of several homes in the Chicago area has been sentenced to 14 years in prison, according to the Cook County state's attorney's office. David Farr was sentenced Monday by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Alfredo Maldonado. He had been convicted last Sept. 30 of felonies, including theft of over $1 million and...

Source: www.housingwire.com)  During the confirmation process for Department of the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Congressional Democrats attempted to use the mortgage practices that took place at OneWest Bank during Mnuchin’s time as chairman against him, claiming that Mnuchin oversaw a “foreclosure machine” during his time at OneWest. One of the Democrats’ weapons of choice was the alleged practices of Financial Freedom, a...

Financial Freedom has agreed to a settlement with the United States of more than $89 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA) in connection with its participation in a federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM) or ‘reverse mortgage’ program, the Justice Department announced today. Financial Freedom is headquartered in...

(Source: fox13memphis.com) MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A local real estate investor has pled guilty to a charge of bank fraud, according to the Department of Justice. In September of 2016, Thomas L. Boyd, 44, was indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain mortgage loans. The indictment alleged Boyd, the owner of Wonderful Properties, LLC gave false statements and documents to Regions Bank, First Tennessee Bank...

Memphis, TN – A Memphis real estate investor has pled guilty to a charge of bank fraud. Lawrence J. Laurenzi, Acting U.S. Attorney, announced the guilty plea today. In September 2016, Thomas L. Boyd, 44, was indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain mortgage loans. The indictment alleged that Boyd, the owner of Wonderful Properties, LLC made false statements and presented false documents to Regions Bank...

SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Ignacio Beato, age 46, of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, was charged in a one count criminal information on April 26, 2017, with conspiracy to engage in monetary transactions through a financial institution, with funds that were the proceeds of wire fraud. According to United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, the information alleges that Beato...