We audited the mortgage origination and business practices of the First Magnus Financial Corporation’s (First Magnus) corporate office in Tucson, Arizona. The objective of the audit was to determine whether First Magnus violated U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements by paying builders and real estate companies marketing fees and non-competition fees in exchange for the referral of Federal Housing Administration (…

We audited the mortgage origination and business practices of First Magnus Financial Corporation’s (First Magnus) corporate office in Tucson, Arizona. The objective of the audit was to determine whether First Magnus violated U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements by paying its brokers volume-based incentives for originating and processing Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgages. We determined that First…

We audited the City of Phoenix Housing Department’s (Housing Department) Housing Choice Voucher program. We conducted the audit as part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual plan. The Housing Department was selected for review because it is the largest housing authority in the state of Arizona and had not previously been audited by OIG. The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Housing Department supported tenant…

HUD OIG performed a corrective action verification of audit recommendations cited in the audit report, Opelika Housing Authority, Public Housing Programs (2004-AT-1011) issued July 23, 2004. The purpose of the corrective action verification was to determine whether the selected audit recommendations were implemented and the deficiencies cited in the report were corrected. The Authority implemented the necessary corrective action for the…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Eloy (Authority) because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had rated the Authority as troubled for five years. In 2007, the Authority had significant financials problems and terminated its executive director. We determined that the Authority did not have adequate internal controls to safeguard assets and reasonably ensure that HUD funds were used in accordance with…

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile woman was sentenced today to 14 months in federal prison for stealing rent money for government-assisted low-income housing.According to court documents, Shannon Caruso, age 48, of Mobile, was employed as a property manager by two different government housing authorities that providing affordable housing to low-income individuals in the Mobile area.  Caruso admitted that while working for both housing authorities, she…

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA – On July 31, 2024, 39-year-old Tametria Conner Dantzler, from Montgomery, Alabama, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges related to loans received through the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, announced United States Attorney Jonathan S. Ross.The CARES Act is a federal law enacted in March 2020 to provide emergency financial…

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Savannah Sandoval, 36, of Camp Verde, was sentenced last week by United States District Judge Steven P. Logan to 24 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Sandoval also was ordered to pay over $650,000 in restitution. Sandoval pleaded guilty on August 9, 2023, to Embezzlement and Theft from an Indian Tribal Organization.Between August 2017 and May 2022, Sandoval, the former Comptroller and Executive…