United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger announced an indictment charging KYLE LEWIS KIRSCHMAN, 52, and HOLLY KAY BLOOM, 37, with conspiring to commit public assistance fraud.  The indictment was filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on December 21, 2016. According to the indictment, KIRSCHMAN owned a house in Mankato, Minn. The house was divided into two apartments. KIRSCHMAN occupied apartment 1. On June 13, 2006, KIRSCHMAN and BLOOM…

(Source: KEYC 12 News) MANKATO, Minn. - Two Mankato residents are each facing a federal charge for conspiracy to commit public assistance fraud. The charges were filed in December by U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger against 52-year-old Kyle Kirschman and 37-year-old Holly Bloom. It was the result of an investigation between the Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office Fraud Investigator and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Kirschman…

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – James Bayfield, a self-described mortgage specialist, was convicted late yesterday by a federal jury in Brooklyn on all four counts charging bank fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud for his role in defrauding mortgage lending institutions and large financial institutions, including Amtrust Bank (Amtrust), Bank of America N.A. (BOA) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (Chase), in a multi-million-dollar mortgage…

PLANO, Texas – A 64-year-old Grand Prairie, Texas man has been sentenced to federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to commit bank fraud and perjury in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston today. Melvin Ray Layman pleaded guilty on July 20, 2016, to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy t commit perjury and was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison on Jan. 11, 2017 by U.S. District Judge…

(Source: cleveland.com) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland-area contractor who paid his employees criminally low wages while working on projects for the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority was sentenced Tuesday to 21 months in federal prison. Marcus Butler, who operated of L & B Electric of Northeast Ohio, lied on forms between 2011 and 2013 and said he paid his employees $126,514.80 more than he actually had when doing subcontracting work…

(Source: cincinnati.com) A man was indicted in federal court Tuesday on allegations he defrauded the Department of Veteran Affairs more than $123,000 between April of 2015 and October of 2016, according to an affidavit filed in federal court. Shawn Oliger, 43, of Cincinnati, said he served in the Marine Corps from 1990 to 1993 and applied for disability compensation, medical care and housing, according to the affidavit filed in by Todd Springer…

(Source: nhregister.com) BRIDGEPORT >> A former West Haven Housing Authority employee has been ordered by a federal judge to pay more than $130,000 in restitution for his role in encouraging the organization to enter into contracts with close friends who owed him money. John Sandella, 54, of Orange, pleaded guilty in September to one count of receipt of compensation with the unlawful intent to defeat the purposes of the U.S. Department of…

United Shore Financial Services LLC (USFS) has agreed to pay the United States $48 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly originating and underwriting mortgage loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that did not meet applicable requirements, the Justice Department announced today.  USFS is headquartered in Troy, Michigan…

BOSTON – A Boston Cab dispatcher and his wife were sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with arranging a sham marriage for an Ethiopian relative so he could obtain legal status in the United States. Girma Tilahun, 61, a dispatcher for EJT Management, Inc., which operates Boston Cab, and his wife, Wudnesh Wolde, 54, both of Cambridge, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper to two years of probation and…

BOSTON – A Milford woman pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with embezzling over $70,000 in rent payments owed to the Framingham Housing Authority (FHA).     Rosa A. Famania, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzling money from an agency receiving federal funds.  U.S. District Court Chief Judge Patti B. Saris scheduled sentencing for March 14, 2017. In February 2010, Famania began…

(Source: framinghamsource.com) BOSTON – A Milford woman pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with embezzling over $70,000 in rent payments owed to the Framingham Housing Authority. Rosa A. Famania, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzling money from an agency receiving federal funds. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Patti B. Saris scheduled sentencing for March 14, 2017. In February 2010, Famania began working…

(Source: housingwire.com) A little over five years ago, the government sued Allied Home Mortgage, its various entities, and its president and CEO, Jim Hodge for $834 million, claiming that Allied engaged in repeated fraud against the Federal Housing Administration over a 10-year period. The government claimed that Allied Home Mortgage, Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corporation, at Hodge’s direction committed repeated violations of the False…

(Source: chicagolawbulletin.com) A federal judge has found an Aurora attorney liable for more than $10 million after previously finding he filed false documents with the government. In a 12-page memorandum opinion, U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp Jr. ruled sole practitioner Robert S. Luce owes the government $3,452,499 in damages for 237 defaulted mortgage loans his mortgage company MDR Mortgage Corp. certified while it remained an approved…

HOUSTON – A federal jury has found the entities formerly known as Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corporation (Allied Capital) and Allied Home Mortgage Corporation (Allied Corporation) as well as president and CEO Jim C. Hodge liable in connection with more than a decade of fraudulent misconduct related to Allied’s participation in the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance program. The jury returned the verdicts late yesterday…

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Christina Scaringi, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the Northeast Region of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), today announced the unsealing of an Indictment charging five defendants with conspiracy to…

(Source: theislandnow.com) Daniel Melamed, a Great Neck resident and Brooklyn real estate developer, was indicted for the second time in two years last Tuesday for schemes involving alleged residential mortgage fraud and larcenies, the state attorney general’s office announced.   Melamed, 40, and six others allegedly defrauded banks and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through the use of shell corporations, forged…

(Source: omaha.com) A Section 8 landlord’s alleged bribery of Omaha Housing Authority employees was reported immediately, and no Housing Authority employees are accused of any wrongdoing, the prosecutor in the case said Friday. Jan Sharp, chief criminal prosecutor of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nebraska, said the Housing Authority cooperated fully with the investigation into the alleged bribery by longtime Omaha landlord Lafi Jafari and his…

(Source: rockislandtoday.com) The Rock Island Housing Authority has been asked to reimburse more than $600,000 to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), according a report from The Edgar County Watchdogs in Illinois Leaks. The housing authority did not comply with the HUD regulations regarding its Housing Choice Voucher and Family Self-Sufficiency programs. The U.S. Office of Inspector General (USOIG) released its…

(Source: valleycentral.com) The La Joya Housing Authority board suspended Executive Director J.J. Garza on Saturday afternoon -- and plans to terminate him. Faced with a federal investigation, the board voted to suspend Executive Director Juan Jose "J.J." Garza, 48, of La Joya without pay. San Antonio-based attorney Mark Anthony Sanchez Sr. advised the board to quickly schedule a follow-up meeting to terminate Garza. "You're beset with a series…

(realestaterama.com) BROOKLYN – (RealEstateRama) — Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced today the indictment of Brooklyn real estate developer Daniel Melamed, 40, his employee Carmen Morales, 51, former employee Denise Morales, 29, and associates Curt Joseph, 48, Christopher Magliocca, 29, Abraham Perez, 66, and David Soufeh, 37, for their roles in multiple schemes involving alleged residential mortgage fraud and larcenies throughout…