(Source: The Guam Daily Post) Former Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority legal counsel Mark Smith denied to the GHURA board any financial interest that conflicted with his role with the agency, but an indictment alleged that he did have a conflict, which he tried to disguise through a series of allegedly fraudulent bank and real estate transactions. In March 2011, Smith executed a contract with GHURA to serve as its legal counsel, and "…

(Source: Kaum News) Unsealed in the District Court of Guam today, two men have been indicted in the federal court for 56 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and theft of government property, to name a few. Attorney Mark Smith was hired by GHURA as legal counsel in March 2011, and was prohibited from receiving funds directly or indirectly during his term. Court documents state he was a landlord under the Section 8 program and worked…

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

Source: Source: Victoria Advocate) By Jessica Priest March 7, 2017 at 10:36 p.m. The Victoria Housing Authority is in the midst of its fourth management shake- up in about two years. Its board of directors fired Louis Boldt during a Feb. 28 meeting. Boldt replaced longtime executive director Debbie Gillespie, who resigned in October 2015 after the Office of Inspector General found the housing authority had mismanaged more than $780,000 from…

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that CARL IMMICH, formerly the property manager of Harriet Tubman Terrace Apartments, a Section 8 Housing Complex in Poughkeepsie, New York, was sentenced to 18 months in prison.  United States District Judge Cathy Seibel imposed today’s sentence. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated:  “Repeatedly and routinely, Carl Immich stole…

(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…

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: 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…

A four-count superseding indictment was unsealed today in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York charging Cornell Bozier with one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and three substantive counts of federal program bribery.  From April 2011 to April 2013, Bozier served as the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners (the Board) at the Village of Hempstead Housing Authority (the VHHA). …

(Source: guampdn.com) A 51-year-old former public housing landlord signed a plea deal and is ready to admit guilt in a bribery scheme in which an ex-Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority employee accepted money from recipients of the federal Housing Choice Voucher, or Section 8, program. The ex-landlord, Albert Buendicho, was indicted in March, along with former GHURA housing specialist Antonia Mayo-San Nicolas, 55, and Section 8…

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former Kansas City, Mo., woman was convicted by a federal jury today of engaging in a fraud scheme in which she stole $440,000 in lottery winnings from her victim as part of a scheme that resulted in a total loss of more than $640,000. Freya Pearson, 43, of Georgia, formerly of Kansas City, was found guilty of all nine counts…

(Source: arkansasonline.com) Lionell S. Moss, the executive director of the Helena Housing Authority, was arrested Friday on federal charges accusing him of illegally receiving $57,907 by submitting false reimbursement requests and using an agency credit card for personal expenses. Moss, 58, appeared briefly late Friday afternoon in the Little Rock courtroom of U.S. Magistrate Judge Joe Volpe and pleaded innocent to three charges -- two…

(USAO ,NY) Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Mark G. Peters, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”), announced today the filing of criminal charges against six defendants for participating in long-running schemes to hide substantial assets and income obtained from significant business and real estate interests in order to attain government benefits designed for…

(Source: dnainfo.com) WILLIAMSBURG — Three Brooklyn couples, including a landlord with properties all over the borough, were arrested Tuesday on charges of defrauding the government of $1.3 million worth of benefits. Shlomo Kubitshuk, 38, and his wife Rachel, 39, Naftali, 40, and Hinda Englander, 41, and Leib, 39, and Devorah Teitelbaum, 36, were accused of lying about their income to the federal government as far back as 2001 in order to…