(Source: USAO, NY) Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, David A. Montoya, Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Frederick W. Gibson, Acting Inspector General for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation today announced the settlement of claims against Continental Mortgage Bankers d/b/a Financial Equities and its president, Walter Stashin, in United States v. Rainy…

(source: wnep.com) HAZLETON -- State police, the IRS, and other federal agents raided the home of a controversial real estate agent Monday morning. Agents carried boxes out of the home of Ignacio Beato on Lincoln Street in Hazleton. They were there for about three hours. The case against Ignacio Beato is growing. What appeared to be a real estate scam in Hazleton may be much more. That's why federal agencies are now involved, with the Luzerne…

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

  Testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. Topic: "HUD Office of Inspector General Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Request and HUD’s Top Management and Performance Challenges". You may view the hearing through the Senate Committee’s page at United States Senate Committee on Appropriations.

(Source: USAO, MA) BOSTON – Lucy Girard, 78, of Townsend, Mass., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Boston to stealing over $200,000 in Social Security and federal housing benefits. In February 2016, Girard was charged in a felony information.  U.S. District Court Senior Judge Rya W. Zobel scheduled sentencing for June 1, 2016. In 1994, Girard was listed as the informant of death on her mother’s death certificate when she…

(Source: NY Daily News) An experienced contractor and two other businessmen took advantage of their non-English speaking employees by undercutting their wages and pocketing more than $1 million from the city, prosecutors said. Mehdi Dayan, 67, allegedly underpaid 27 employees who worked on an $8 million construction project to the restore the exterior and replace the roofing of two NYCHA projects — Brown Houses in Crown Heights and Glenmore…

(Source: Brooklyn District Attorney's Office) Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, together with New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark G. Peters, today announced in a 40-count indictment that a contractor, his subcontractor and a foreman have been variously charged with stealing over $1 million in wages by underpaying 27 employees who worked on a construction project in Brooklyn that was financed by the New York City…

(Source: rep-am.com) WATERBURY — The Waterbury Housing Authority's first large-scale attempt to build new housing in two decades has begun with a major disappointment involving the risk of losing $350,000. The authority paid that amount to a Pennsylvania builder who has so far failed to deliver on a contract to build a four-unit affordable living apartment building at the corner of Willow and West Main streets, according to Waterbury Housing…

(Source: USAO, NY) ALBANY, NEW YORK – Ronald Barney, age 66, of Orange, California, pleaded guilty yesterday to a misdemeanor charge of performing lead-based paint testing inspections and risk assessments without a certification from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The announcement was made by United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian, EPA Criminal Investigations Division Special Agent in Charge Vernesa Jones-Allen, and Christina…

(Source: USAO, LA) U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that FREDDIE ROSS, JR., age 37, of New Orleans, who performs under the stage name BIG FREEDIA, was charged in a one-count Bill of Information with theft of government funds. According to the Bill of Information, between about 2010 and continuing until December 2014, ROSS stole money to which he was not entitled from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. …

(Source: nola.com) Big Freedia, the internationally famous New Orleans bounce music artist, has been charged with a felony count of theft of federal funds. Freedia, identified in court documents by her legal name of Freddie Ross, Jr., is accused of stealing more than $1,000 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development between 2010 and 2014. She faces a maximum prison term of 10 years and fine of $250,000. Freedia's attorney, Tim Kappel…

(Source: OAG, NJ) TRENTON – Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced that five additional individuals were charged criminally today with filing fraudulent applications for federal relief funds related to Superstorm Sandy. Since March 2014, the Attorney General’s Office has filed criminal charges against 50 people for allegedly engaging in this type of fraud, including the five individuals charged today. The Attorney General’s Office is…

(Source: USAO, CT) Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ANDREW ROSS, 58, of New Haven, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 12 months and one day of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for paying nearly $350,000 in bribes to the former executive director of the West Haven Housing Authority in exchange for government contracts and…

(Source: USAO, MD) Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced Alberic Okou Agodio, age 31, of Bethesda, Maryland, today to 61 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, arising from a mortgage fraud scheme in which he used the names of immigrants and students, along with false financial information, to obtain $3.8 million in home mortgage…

(Source: USAO, CT) Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that a federal grand jury in Bridgeport has returned an indictment charging TIMOTHY W. BURKE, also known as “Bill Burke,” “William Burke,” “Kerry Saunders,” “Pat Riley,” “Jim Caldwell,” “Jim Saunders,” “Tom Morrisey,” “Jimmy,” “Phil Burke,” “Phil,” “Burt,” “James Burke,” and “M. Soler,” 64, of Easton, with fraud, tax, money laundering and…

(Source: presstelegram.com) A Lakewood woman has been found guilty of real estate fraud, causing $662,000 in losses to lenders. Felicia Muhammad, 45, was convicted on five felony counts for lying to banks that funded mortgages for three properties that later went into default, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. At the time of the fraud, she was a licensed real estate broker living in Long Beach. Muhammad was convicted Friday…

(Source: USAO, CT)Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that SERJ GEUTSSOYAN, also known as “Anthony Kirk,” 33, of Santa Ana, Calif., pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to conspiring to defraud homeowners across the United States who were seeking mortgage loan modifications. According to court documents and statements made in court, GEUTSSOYAN and others…

(Source: local10.com) Local 10 investigation shows over-income families living in public housing - Click to watch video

(Source: USAO, LA) BATON ROUGE, LA - United States Attorney Walt Green announced the convictions of RHODA RENAE ROBERTSON, age 47, and LOUELLA ROBERTSON, age 68, both of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who pled guilty before U.S. District Judges Shelley Dick and John deGravelles, respectively, to theft of government funds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 641.  RHODA ROBERTSON was convicted on February 16, 2016.  LOUELLA…

(Source: The Southern Illinoisan News) CAIRO — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Monday morning that it is immediately taking possession of the Alexander County Housing Authority. HUD said in a statement released to the media around 10 a.m. that it is taking this action “following a years-long pattern of financial and operational mismanagement, poor housing conditions, and alleged civil rights violations against the…