DETROIT - Angela Reed, a Gulf War hero, was awarded three Bronze Stars for acts of heroism in a combat zone. On Thursday, a judge thanked her for her service before sentencing her to prison for what he called a deplorable act: taking cash bribes and preventing homeless people from getting the Read More

Reports of mortgage fraud declined in 2012, the first decrease in such reports since the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) started tracking them in 2002. FinCEN received 69,277 Mortgage Loan Fraud Suspicious Activity Reports (MLF SARs) in 2012, 25% fewer than the Read More

RealtyTrac reported last week that Oregon is the second hottest spot in the nation for home foreclosure. And as The Skanner News went to press this week, the national Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a report faulting mortgage servicing processes – and calling out Attorney General Eric Read More

Just as New Haven was ready to start fixing the mess a developer made of a longtime housing co-op, a judge has halted a crucial tax foreclosure sale—and may have postponed any further action for at least three more months. Superior Court Judge Michael Maronich ruled that the city may not go ahead Read More

WASHINGTON – A Miami title agent and former mortgage broker was sentenced today for her role in a reverse mortgage loan fraud scheme. Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, Read More

NEW ORLEANS -- Based on the findings of our Eyewitness Investigation, federal authorities charged a developer whose family is a major supporter of Gov. Bobby Jindal with fraudulently billing a state Katrina recovery program. And Praveen Kailas pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit Read More

CHARLOTTE — An Asheboro man and a Pinehurst man are among a group working for Phoenix Housing Group who are facing potentially decades in prison and millions in fines on federal charges involving a $158 million consumer and mortgage fraud conspiracy. The announcement was made by the U.S. Attorney’ Read More

SAN DIEGO – A federal grand jury has indicted San Diego businessman Michael A. Smith on charges that he engaged in an elaborate scheme to defraud the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians out of $1.25 million.  According to an Read More

The former manager of an Allentown mortgage company was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison for his role in a long-running mortgage fraud scheme. U.S. District Judge Harvey R. Bartle also ordered Joel Tillett, 36, of Whitehall Township, to pay nearly $980,000 in restitution after he Read More

PHILADELPHIA – Joel Tillett, 36, of Whitehall, PA, was sentenced today to four years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $979,562.20 in connection with a mortgage fraud conspiracy.  Tillett, the former general manager of Madison Funding, Inc., a now-defunct Allentown mortgage loan Read More

A subprime deal came back to haunt Fabrice Tourre, a former Goldman Sachs trader, when a federal jury in Manhattan found him liable for civil securities fraud. He is not the only one feeling the pain of a subprime transaction six years on. Hundreds of thousands of subprime borrowers are still Read More

An investor in a Charleston real estate development was sentenced today to time served for his role in a 2007 mortgage scheme that bilked lenders out of more than $400,000. Jason G. Haywood, who has no prior criminal history, agreed in a deal with federal prosecutors to turn over 31 villas at 1 Read More

RIDGELAND — A Ridgeland lawyer has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for fraud. The July 2011 indictment says Michael Earwood and a partner formed Kinwood Capital Group LLC, a real estate business that operated from 1998 to 2006. Prosecutors say Earwood asked the partner for money to Read More

President Barack Obama’s administration significantly overstated statistics from a year-long mortgage-fraud initiative, including total number of victims, their losses suffered and number of individuals criminally charged, according to an FBI memo. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, in the Read More

Massive federal budget cuts are stealing hope from the poor, elderly and disabled. As evidence of this horrific trend, in recent months during 2013 the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) notified 14 households that their Section 8 housing choice vouchers have been suspended until further notice. The Read More

Deirdre M. Daly, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that a federal grand jury sitting in Hartford has returned an indictment charging three individuals with participating in a mortgage fraud scheme involving the purchase of more than 40 properties Read More

A Bayonne man pleaded guilty today to his role in a bid-rigging scheme that fraudulently obtained tens of thousands of dollars in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds through the City of Bayonne Department of Community Development, officials said. Leo Viguie, 38, of L.V. Read More

MOBILE, Alabama – Two more former mortgage broker employees accused of defrauding lenders pleaded not guilty to federal charges Wednesday, bringing the total number of defendants in the probe to a half-dozen. Prosecutors allege that employees who worked at Midtown Mortgage submitted fraudulent Read More

MOBILE, Alabama – A man who worked as a loan officer at a local mortgage company pleaded guilty today to providing phony documents to a lender to get a house loan approved for a client. Anthony Melvin Wilkes became the second Midtown Mortgage Co. employee to plead guilty to making a false Read More

MINNEAPOLIS—A federal indictment unsealed late yesterday charges a 38-year-old Maple Plain man with conspiring to defraud mortgage loan lenders. The indictment, which was filed on July 16, 2013, specifically charges Alpha Rashidi Mshihiri with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, three Read More