HUD became aware of the financial problems of HACC when the staff of the Office of Public Housing, Pennsylvania State Office, met with representatives of HACC on October 2, 2000.  HACC requested the meeting to discuss its declining Public Housing and Section 8 reserves and a shortfall in Hope VI funds. A HUD technical review was performed in October 2000 and the results were discussed with the HACC on November 20, 2000. At that time HACC…

We completed an audit of the Housing Authority of the City of Miami Beach, Florida (HACMB). We conducted the audit pursuant to a request by your office dated July 9, 1999. This report contains four findings that require follow-up action by your office to ensure HACMB implements appropriate corrective action. Within 60 days please give us a status report, for each recommendation in this report, on: (1) the corrective action taken; (2) the…

We have completed an audit of the Puerto Rico Public Housing Administration's (PHA) management of its central office procurement system. We conducted the audit in response to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) officials and our ongoing concerns regarding the Puerto Rico Public Housing Administration's financial management systems. Our audit objectives were to determine whether the PHA administered its activities in compliance…

The owner of hundreds of rental units scattered across 18 residential properties in Elizabeth has been arrested and criminally charged with coercing more than a dozen of his tenants into sexual acts in exchange for financial relief, acting Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo and Elizabeth Police Department Chief Giacomo Sacca and Director Earl Graves jointly announced Monday. Joseph Centanni, 73, of Mountainside is charged with eight…

HONOLULU – A federal jury today found Chun Mei Tong, also known as Mei Tong, 43, of Honolulu, guilty of five counts of wire fraud and three counts of aggravated identity theft for her scheme to use an alias and forge signatures to rent out properties under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") Housing Choice Voucher Program (also known as the "Section 8 Program") while she was also a HUD employee involved in overseeing the…

BOSTON – A Dominican national was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for false representation of a Social Security number and theft of public money.      Noemi Mejia, 51, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to one year and one day in prison, two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $164,987 in restitution. Mejia will be subject to deportation upon completion of her sentence. In…

(Source: Cleveland.com) CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - The alleged mastermind involved in scamming hundreds of thousands of dollars from mothers nationwide changed her plea Monday morning. Zienup Sbeih-Maddox’s plea change to guilty comes on the day her trial was scheduled to begin in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors recommend that Sbeih-Maddox serves six years in prison. She would also be ordered to…

NEWARK, N.J. – A former candidate for the Hoboken City Council was convicted today of conspiring to promote a voter bribery scheme by use of the mail, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.  Francis Raia, 67, of Hoboken, New Jersey, was a candidate for Hoboken City Council in 2013. He was convicted of one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Travel Act for causing the mails to be used in aid of voter bribery, contrary to New Jersey…

A former Stuart Housing Authority employee pled guilty today to stealing government funds from the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program. Ariana Fajardo Orshan, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Nadine Gurley, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General (HUD-OIG), made the announcement. Cynthia Cabrera, 49, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, pled guilty today to one…

(Source: Geneseesun.com) ROCHESTER – Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Adam C. McFadden pleaded guilty to wire fraud and filing a false tax return before U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick, who is handling the case, stated that McFadden was a member of the Rochester City Council, while co-…

A federal jury in Central Islip returned a guilty verdict today against Cornell Bozier, the former Chairman of the Board of Commissioners at the Village of Hempstead Housing Authority (VHHA) on four counts of an indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and federal program bribery.  The verdict followed a two-week trial before United States District Judge Joan M. Azrack.  When sentenced, Bozier faces…

(Source: www.wcpo.com CINCINNATI — Federal agents arrested a registered sex offender who's accused of forging court documents and judges' signatures in an effort to obtain housing vouchers. Gary Wipperman, 57, is required to register his residence to authorities every 90 days after being convicted of gross sexual imposition and felonious sexual penetration involving a 9-year-old victim in Greene County in 1993. U. S. Department of Housing and…

Four individuals were charged in an eight-count indictment, unsealed today, which alleges federal program fraud, money laundering and perjury, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider. Schneider was joined in the announcement by Brad Geary, Special Agent in Charge of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General and Special Agent in Charge Timothy R. Slater, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Detroit Division…

A Euclid woman was sentenced to more than nine years in prison for a scheme in which she fraudulently enrolled students into Ohio community colleges to defraud the U.S. Department of Education out of $1.8 million. Basheera Perry, 45, was sentenced to 114 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $1.9 million in restitution. She previously pleaded guilty to numerous charges, including conspiracy, wire and mail fraud and aggravated identity…

(Source: www.tristatehomepage.com) On Monday, United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler announced that the former Echo Housing Corporation Executive Director Stephanie Tenbarge was indicted on three counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds. Tenbarge, 71, was arrested Monday and will appear before a federal magistrate judge for her initial appearance. Click here to read the indictment. Tenbarge was accused in 2018 of misusing…

Evansville –United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler announced today that an Evansville, Indiana woman who worked as the Executive Director at Echo Housing Corporation, was indicted on three counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds. Stephanie L. TenBarge, 71, Evansville, was arrested today and will appear before a federal magistrate judge for her initial appearance. Echo Housing Corporation is a non-profit organization based in…

Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (“SDNY”), Ben Carson, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), and Andrew Wheeler, Acting Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), announced today the signing of an administrative agreement (“Agreement”) with the NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY (“NYCHA”) and the CITY OF NEW YORK (the “City”) requiring…

(Source: brownsvilleherald.com) A man admitted to defrauding the Brownsville Housing Authority Tuesday afternoon by concealing income he earned through selling firearms, gun kits and ammunition, court documents and hearings revealed. Gilberto Usdel Tello pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Rolando Olvera to lying to a special agent with the Department of Housing and Urban Development-Office of the Inspector General, or HUD-OIG, by…

(Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser) A former U.S. Housing and Urban Development employee accused of collecting Section 8 rental assistance on properties she and her husband managed and controlled pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court Wednesday to five counts of wire fraud. Chun Mei Tong, 42, a former HUD financial analyst, also pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated identity theft. She was accused of signing Section 8 owner…

(SOURCE: Cleveland19.com) CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - A major new development surfaced Wednesday in a lucrative Facebook scam first exposed by a Cleveland 19 undercover investigation in June 2017. A Cuyahoga County grand jury has indicted Zienup Sbeih-Maddox, 24, of Cleveland; Kirsten Laurie, 26, of Cleveland; and Kimberly St. John-Stevenson, 54, of Cleveland Heights, in connection with the social media scam, which investigators say defrauded…