We audited the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Preforeclosure Sales Program claim process in accordance with our goal to contribute to improving the integrity of FHA single-family insurance programs.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Read More

CANTON -The classically styled, sleek, energy-efficient complex known as the Metropolitan Centre was supposed to be a crown jewel for the Stark Metropolitan Housing Authority. Instead, it turned out to be a four-story chunk of cubic zirconia the agency wants to sell — as soon as possible. The 54, Read More

We completed a review of the Lowell Housing Authority’s Public Housing and Recovery Act Capital Fund programs, including its force account activities.  We selected this auditee based on a news articles identifying concerns with the Authority’s use of force account labor.  The objectives Read More

The Stark Metropolitan Housing Authority obliterated most cardinal rules of real estate when it completed a new home this year in the city’s near northwest area. The agency spent $297,000 to build a single-floor house, without a basement — on a postage-stamp-sized lot; within an eroding Read More

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A former Charlotte area realtor pleaded guilty on Monday, August 26, 2013, to selling household appliances she unlawfully removed from vacant homes owned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western Read More

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) controls over the Brownfield and Round II Empowerment Zone programs as part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual plan.  Our objective was to determine whether HUD had adequate procedures to measure Brownfield Read More

HUNTINGTON -- A former Huntington Housing Authority employee was indicted earlier this week on charges alleging she embezzled more than $20,000 from the agency in one year. Patricia Howard, 54, was charged with embezzlement from an organization receiving federal benefits during a federal grand Read More

We audited the Warren Metropolitan Housing Authority’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2013 annual audit plan.  We selected the Authority based on a citizen’s complaint to our office.  Our objective was to determine whether the Read More

Five Defendants Defrauded First-Time Home Buyers And Institutional Lenders In Rent-To-Own Scam Schneiderman: Preying On Innocent New Yorkers Who Want Nothing More Than An Opportunity To Own Their Own Home Is Repugnant SYRACUSE - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the indictment Read More

SYRACUSE, NY -- Five people accused of bilking banks and homeowners in Central New York out of $1.1 million are facing a rarely used criminal charge. Until this week, no one in Onondaga County had been charged with first- or second-degree residential mortgage fraud over the past five years, Read More

Timothy P. Murray agreed Thursday to pay $80,000 to settle charges that he collected $50,000 in illegal campaign contributions raised by two public officials, capping a controversy that derailed the former lieutenant governor’s political career. Murray, who resigned in June to take a position as Read More

BOSTON – The former executive director of the Chelsea Housing Authority (CHA) has been indicted for unlawfully soliciting contributions from state employees and other individuals to support multiple campaigns, including that of former Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray, Attorney General Martha Read More

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AUGUST 28, 2013 FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF GALLUP HOUSING AUTHORITY CHARGED WITH FEDERAL FRAUD AND THEFT OFFENSES ALBUQUERQUE – A federal grand jury has indicted two men from Gallup, N.M., on charges that they engaged in a scheme to defraud the United States and the U.S. Read More

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

We reviewed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Community Planning and Development’s (CPD) risk assessment procedures as they relate to subrecipient involvement in CPD programs.  We initiated the audit due to observations by HUD Office of Inspector General ( Read More

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the HUD Office of Program Enforcement in conducting a civil fraud review of alleged false claims submitted to HUD regarding City employee labor costs charged to the City’s Neighborhood 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