(USAO, CT) ARIA MALEKI, 33, of Santa Ana, Calif., was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 112 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for heading a mortgage loan modification scheme that defrauded more than 1,000 struggling homeowners across the United States. “This defendant presided over a scheme that preyed on struggling homeowners in Connecticut and across the United...

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MICHAEL SIWEK, 56, of North Haven, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 48 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for receiving approximately $1.5 million in bribes while serving as the executive director of the West Haven Housing Authority, and for failing to pay taxes on the illegal...

HARTFORD >> Almost two years after a West Haven man waived his right to an indictment and pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy, bribery and tax evasion charges, he was sentenced in federal court to 48 months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. Michael Siwek, 56, also was ordered to pay restitution of $1,503,096.91 and more than $360,000 to the IRS. Siwek was executive director of the West Haven Housing Authority...

A former Montgomery attorney pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges related to defrauding the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Christopher B. Pitts, 46, now of Atlanta, pleaded guilty to wire fraud affecting a financial institution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Alabama. Pitts served as a closing attorney for the sales of all homes owned by HUD in northern and central Alabama between...

TRENTON, N.J. – A part owner of Bayway Lumber, a Linden, New Jersey, company that sold commercial and industrial products to numerous public and private entities, was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud customers out of $708,386, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. Robert R. Dattilo, 61, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan to an information charging him with one...

(USAO, OH) A former Youngstown man was sentenced to more than three years in prison for crimes related to the purchase of a dozen homes in Mahoning County, said Carole S. Rendon, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, and Steven D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Cleveland office. R. Allen Sinclair, 52, of Suwanee, Georgia, was sentenced to 41 months in prison and ordered to pay approximately $830,000 in...

(USAO, NY) Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that ANTHONY BOVE, the former Commissioner of the Board of Water Supply of the City of Mount Vernon (the “Water Department”), was sentenced today to 15 months in prison for soliciting a $10,000 bribe from an employee of the Water Department, and lying to federal law enforcement officers when BOVE was interviewed during the investigation....

CHICAGO – July 11, 2016 – (RealEstateRama) — The Chicago Housing Authority will receive restitution for money stolen by a former contractor and her husband after the pair pleaded guilty to stealing funds intended for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, a crime that was exposed following an investigation by the CHA’s Office of the Inspector General. Former contractor Charlene Potts and her husband Scott Washington pleaded guilty in Cook...

NEWARK, N.J. – A West Orange, New Jersey, man who was the sole proprietor of two companies that purportedly provided printing and digital marketing services to the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corporation (NWCDC) today admitted his role in a conspiracy to fraudulently bill the NWCDC for more than $110,000 for work that was never performed, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. Kevin Gleaton, 52, pleaded guilty before U.S....

A New York parole board freed Kwame Abdul-Haqq in 2004 after he served time for attempted murder, robbery, burglary and kidnapping. Just three years later, Abdul-Haqq was hired by the state of Indiana — as a prison guard. The 52-year-old Anderson man was charged Wednesday in a federal indictment with defrauding the state of Indiana out of the $175,000 he was paid when he worked as an officer at the Pendleton Correctional Facility, a maximum...

Indianapolis – United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler announced today the indictment of an Anderson man on six counts of wire fraud, two counts of making false statements on a loan or credit application, and one count of making false declarations before the court. Kwame Abdul-Haqq, 52, Anderson, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Indianapolis. Robert Borum has a lengthy criminal history in New York, including convictions for attempted...

(Source: USAO, MD) Baltimore, Maryland – Real estate agent Christopher A. Kwegan, age 59, of Randallstown, Maryland pleaded guilty today to charges arising from the fraudulent purchase of a Baltimore City property using fraudulent loan documentation and a straw purchaser. The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the Federal Bureau of...

(Source: phillyvoice.com) Two Chester men pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a multi-year conspiracy that involved filing false deeds on Delaware County homes and false tax forms against judges, law enforcement and other government employees in an effort to intimidate them, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced. Steven Hameed, 57, and Darnell Young, 48, both of Chester, pleaded guilty to all charges spelled out in an indictment detailing their...

(USAO, WA) A SeaTac man who used a second identity to defraud federal and state public assistance programs for more than 20 years was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 30 months in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes.  TRAVIS EDWARD FISCHER, 49, lived with his girlfriend and three children in SeaTac, while also claiming benefits under the name Edward Travis Fischer in Seattle.  By pretending to be two...

(USAO, IN) HAMMOND- United States Attorney David A. Capp announced that a federal grand jury in Hammond returned an indictment charging three individuals for their part in a house flipping scheme involving Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) properties. The indictment charges Sergio Garcia, Sr.,46, of Chicago, IL and Sergio Garcia, Jr., 27, of Lowell, IN with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and ten substantive counts of mail fraud...

(Post-Tribune News) A Lowell man and two Illinois men were indicted by a federal grand jury for a HUD house flipping scheme in several communities across Northwest Indiana and the southwest suburbs of Chicago. Sergio Garcia Sr., 46, of Chicago, and Sergio Garcia Jr., 27, of Lowell, each face one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and 10 counts of mail fraud. Lansing, Ill., resident Timothy D. Greene, 29, faces one count of submitting...

(USAO, CT) Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that VICTOR CUEVAS, 52, of Bristol, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to conspiring with others to commit bank fraud in connection with his home mortgage loan applications. According to court documents and statements made in court, in the summer of 2013, CUEVAS, a City of...

Earlier today, David Gotterup pleaded guilty at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, to conspiracy to commit wire fraud by defrauding distressed homeowners in a loan modification scheme.  When sentenced, Gotterup faces up to 30 years in prison, as well as restitution, criminal forfeiture, and a fine. The guilty plea was announced by Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Diego Rodriguez,...

(Source: USAO, OH) COLUMBUS, Ohio – A federal grand jury has charged Robert Porter, 52, of Westerville, Ohio with five counts of willfully filing a false income tax return with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and one count of making a false statement. Benjamin C. Glassman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Kathy A. Enstrom, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Criminal Investigation,...

(OAG, NJ) TRENTON – Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy 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 62 people for allegedly engaging in this type of fraud, including the five individuals charged today. The Attorney General’s Office is...