(Source: USAO, NJ) NEWARK, N.J. – A compliance officer with the Union City Community Development Agency (UCCDA) today admitted that he manipulated the contractor selection process for federally funded residential rehabilitation and sidewalk replacement projects, causing losses of $40,000 to $95,000, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. Washington Borgono, 65, of North Bergen, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William H....

(Source: arkansasonline.com) The former executive director of the Hot Springs Housing Authority was ordered in federal court to repay the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development more than $5,500 for collecting twice on travel expenses. Barbara Louise Baer also was sentenced to two years' probation and fined $500 during a brief hearing Thursday before U.S. District Judge Susan O. Hickey in Hot Springs. Baer pleaded guilty in May to one...

(Source: hotspringsdaily.com) Dear Editor, Friday’s Sentinel Record had an article describing the felony sentencing of the past Hot Springs Housing director Barbara Baer. Baer was sentenced to two years’ probation for embezzlement and fined puny a $500. What is missing from this article is a description of the complicity and irresponsibility of the majority of the Housing Authority board in allowing this mess to occur. In addition, to...

(Source: USAO, WA) A SeaTac man who used a second identity to defraud public assistance programs for more than 20 years was convicted late yesterday of multiple federal felonies following a three day jury trial, 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 Fisher in Seattle.  By pretending to be...

(Source: USAO, MS) Hattiesburg, Miss – Kenneth Fairley, 62, of Hattiesburg, and Artie Fletcher, 55, of Picayune, have been charged in a federal indictment with a scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), announced U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis, IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Jerome R. McDuffie, HUD Special Agent in Charge Nadine Gurley, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in...

HATTIESBURG, MS (WDAM) A Hub City pastor has been indicted in federal court on charges for defrauding the U.S. government. Rev. Kenneth Fairley was served with six-count indictment. Count 1 - Conspiracy to defraud the United States. Count 2 and 3 - Theft of government money. Count 4 - Conspiracy to commit money laundering. Count 5 and 6 - Engaging in monetary transactions. Fairley, pastor of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, appeared before...

(Source: USAo, CT) Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ARIA MALEKI, 33, of Santa Ana, Calif., pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to conspiring to defraud homeowners across the United States who were seeking mortgage loan modifications. According to court documents and statements made in court, MALEKI and others jointly operated a series of...

(Source: heraldbulletin.com) ANDERSON – The son of an Anderson businessman was arrested Tuesday on suspicion he attempted to transfer Section 8 properties without the permission of his father, who has owned some of them for as long as 30 years. Madison County sheriff's deputies arrested Ben Thomas Jewell Jr., 54, 200 block of South Madison Avenue, Anderson, on preliminary charges of Class C felony forgery and Class D felony theft. He faces...

(Source: USAO, LA) LAFAYETTE, La. – United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that the former director of the Morgan City Housing Authority and two former employees were arraigned today on charges related to theft of half a million dollars. Charles E. Spann, 78, of Kingsport, Tenn.; and Diana L. Pace, 64, and Sandra L. Green, 59, both of Morgan City, La.; pleaded not guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carol B. Whitehurst. The...

(Source:New Orleans Advocate) Big Freedia left federal court in a shiny Chevrolet Suburban on Wednesday with a whirl of cameras trailing her and a felony conviction on her record. The New Orleans bounce rapper, whose reality TV show made her a national star, pleaded guilty to the theft of nearly $35,000 in federal housing voucher money. The entertainer, whose real name is Freddie Ross Jr., admitted she fraudulently accepted the Section 8...

(Source: USAO, NY) Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, David A. Montoya, Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Frederick W. Gibson, Acting Inspector General for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation today announced the settlement of claims against Continental Mortgage Bankers d/b/a Financial Equities and its president, Walter Stashin, in United States v. Rainy...

(source: wnep.com) HAZLETON -- State police, the IRS, and other federal agents raided the home of a controversial real estate agent Monday morning. Agents carried boxes out of the home of Ignacio Beato on Lincoln Street in Hazleton. They were there for about three hours. The case against Ignacio Beato is growing. What appeared to be a real estate scam in Hazleton may be much more. That's why federal agencies are now involved, with the Luzerne...

Testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies

  Testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. Topic: "HUD Office of Inspector General Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Request and HUD’s Top Management and Performance Challenges". You may view the hearing through the Senate Committee’s page at United States Senate Committee on Appropriations.

(Source: USAO, MA) BOSTON – Lucy Girard, 78, of Townsend, Mass., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Boston to stealing over $200,000 in Social Security and federal housing benefits. In February 2016, Girard was charged in a felony information.  U.S. District Court Senior Judge Rya W. Zobel scheduled sentencing for June 1, 2016. In 1994, Girard was listed as the informant of death on her mother’s death certificate when she...

(Source: NY Daily News) An experienced contractor and two other businessmen took advantage of their non-English speaking employees by undercutting their wages and pocketing more than $1 million from the city, prosecutors said. Mehdi Dayan, 67, allegedly underpaid 27 employees who worked on an $8 million construction project to the restore the exterior and replace the roofing of two NYCHA projects — Brown Houses in Crown Heights and Glenmore...

(Source: Brooklyn District Attorney's Office) Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, together with New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark G. Peters, today announced in a 40-count indictment that a contractor, his subcontractor and a foreman have been variously charged with stealing over $1 million in wages by underpaying 27 employees who worked on a construction project in Brooklyn that was financed by the New York City...

(Source: rep-am.com) WATERBURY — The Waterbury Housing Authority's first large-scale attempt to build new housing in two decades has begun with a major disappointment involving the risk of losing $350,000. The authority paid that amount to a Pennsylvania builder who has so far failed to deliver on a contract to build a four-unit affordable living apartment building at the corner of Willow and West Main streets, according to Waterbury Housing...

(Source: USAO, NY) ALBANY, NEW YORK – Ronald Barney, age 66, of Orange, California, pleaded guilty yesterday to a misdemeanor charge of performing lead-based paint testing inspections and risk assessments without a certification from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The announcement was made by United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian, EPA Criminal Investigations Division Special Agent in Charge Vernesa Jones-Allen, and Christina...

(Source: USAO, LA) U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that FREDDIE ROSS, JR., age 37, of New Orleans, who performs under the stage name BIG FREEDIA, was charged in a one-count Bill of Information with theft of government funds. According to the Bill of Information, between about 2010 and continuing until December 2014, ROSS stole money to which he was not entitled from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. ...