We audited HUD's controls over the FHA appraiser roster in response to a single-family loan origination audit that had raised concerns about FHA appraisers and appraisals. We reviewed HUD's appraiser roster (roster) to determine whether HUD's controls over the roster were adequate to ensure that only qualified/eligible appraisers were placed on the roster and whether the oversight and maintenance of the roster were sufficient to ensure that…

HUD OIG audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Quality Assurance Division because the results of some previous OIG audits indicated that the Quality Assurance Division might not have consistently followed its requirements. Our objective was to determine whether HUD's Quality Assurance Division consistently required Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved lenders to indemnify loans with similar material…

Attached is the final report on our audit of the Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, branch of National City Mortgage (branch office), Audit Report Number 2008-PH-1002, dated November 20, 2007. We selected the branch office because its default rate was above the state's default rate. Our objective was to determine whether the branch office complied with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations, procedures, and instructions…

NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, man will be arraigned today on charges that he engaged in a conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud that resulted in potential losses in excess of $1 million, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. Cabral Simpson, 43, of Belleville, New Jersey, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre in Newark federal court. He is charged by indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud…

TRENTON, N.J. – A Passaic County, New Jersey, man and a Bergen County, New Jersey, man have been arraigned for their respective roles in a reverse mortgage scheme that took advantage of several elderly homeowners, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced today. Rafael Peralta, 46, of Clifton, New Jersey, and Philip Puccio Jr., 40, of Mahwah, New Jersey, were indicted Feb. 8, 2019, by a federal grand jury on one count of conspiracy to commit…

Universal American Mortgage Company LLC (UAMC) has agreed to pay the United States $13.2 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by falsely certifying that it complied with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance requirements in connection with certain loans, the Department of Justice announced today.  UAMC is a mortgage lender headquartered in Miami, Florida. “Mortgage lenders may not ignore…

BOSTON – Three Massachusetts men were charged today in federal court in Boston in connection with a 10-year mortgage fraud scheme involving at least two dozen fraudulent loan transactions and $4.3 million in losses to lenders. George Kritopoulos, 46, of Salem, a real estate developer, was arrested today and charged with one count of conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud, six counts of bank fraud, one count of aiding the preparation of a false…

The owner of a former real estate escrow firm was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 24 months in prison for bank fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. LORI LYNN ANDREW, 49, of Cashmere, Washington, the owner of Hartman Escrow, Inc., pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud.  ANDREW stole more than $2.1 million through a variety of techniques, including making false entries in escrow closing documents,…

BOSTON – A Methuen real estate broker was sentenced today in connection with a sweeping conspiracy to defraud banks and mortgage companies by engaging in sham “short” sales of residential properties in Merrimack Valley. Greisy Jimenez, 50, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf to three years in prison, four years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a fine of $12,500. The court will determine issues of restitution…

(Source: orangecountyda.org) Case # 17CF2429 Date: July 17, 2018 MAN SENTENCED TO EIGHT YEARS IN PRISON FOR UNLAWFUL LOAN MODIFICATION AND MONEY LAUNDERING AFTER DEFRAUDING NEARLY $2.3 MILLION FROM 387 HOMEOWNERS SANTA ANA, Calif. – A man was convicted and sentenced on Friday to eight years in state prison for operating an unlawful loan modification and money laundering scam that defrauded nearly $2.3 million from 387 homeowners.  …

BOSTON – A real estate attorney was sentenced today in connection with a sweeping conspiracy to defraud banks and mortgage companies by engaging in sham “short” sales of residential properties in Merrimack Valley. Jasmin Polanco, 37, of Methuen, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to 15 months in prison, three year of supervised release and ordered to pay $1,224,489 in restitution. In March 2018, Polanco…

BOSTON – A mortgage loan officer was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston in connection with a sweeping conspiracy to defraud banks and mortgage companies by engaging in sham “short” sales of residential properties in Merrimack Valley. Vanessa Ricci, 41, of Methuen, a mortgage loan officer, was sentenced to six months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $963,730. In March 2018, Ricci pleaded…

NEWARK, N.J. – A Jackson, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for his role in a large-scale mortgage fraud scheme that used phony documents and straw buyers to acquire more than $6 million in loans, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. Joseph DiValli previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to a superseding information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one…

CHICAGO (CBS) — It’s back to jail, at least for now, for a man accused of defrauding more than 100 Chicago seniors. CBS 2’s Jim Williams reports a federal judge hasn’t yet decided if Mark Diamond should be released on bond. Barbara Bailey’s mother was a victim. She says she wants the man responsible to stay in jail. “If Mr. Diamond is out, he can still go into the neighborhood or contact people to still scheme and defraud people,” says Bailey.…

CHICAGO -- A man accused of scamming elderly Chicagoans out of their homes was in federal court Thursday for a bond hearing. Prosecutors want the judge to deny bond for Mark Diamond. He and an alleged accomplice, Cynthia Wallace, are charged with fraud. Prosecutors say they conned people into fake reverse mortgages, swindling $10 million. There are 120 victims, mostly black women on the South and West sides. Some have died.