A New Orleans-based contractor who admitted to over-billing a Road Home subsidiary $236,000 was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to two-and-a-half years in prison. Praveen Kailas, a prominent and politically connected contractor, admitted to overbilling the state's Small Rental Property Program, a subset of Road Home designed to aid property owners in rebuilding their units after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Kailas said he approved and…

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JOSE GUZMAN, 53, of Waterford, was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello in Hartford to 51 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for operating an extensive mortgage fraud scheme in eastern Connecticut. According to court documents and statements made in court, GUZMAN operated a fraudulent mortgage…

LA JOYA - The director of the La Joya Housing Authority says a federal investigation into his businesses may have been politically motivated. "It gets pretty dirty, they'll use whatever they want to distract the voters and trying to change, outcome (sic)," Juan Jose Garza said. Federal agents raided Garza's home and office on Wednesday. Garza said he is baffled by the investigation. Garza also serves as a La Joya ISD board member. Garza said he…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 18, 2013 Linda Linseman, 56, of Detroit, Michigan, was sentenced yesterday to 32 months imprisonment by Judge Robert H. Cleland for her theft of more than $385,000 in Federal and State grant funds designated to Lighthouse of Oakland, a non-profit organization in Pontiac, Michigan, dedicated to helping the homeless, announced United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade. McQuade was joined in the announcement by…

MOBILE, Alabama – A federal judge on Monday sentenced a woman to pay restitution to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as part of an ongoing mortgage fraud prosecution the Midtown Mortgage brokerage. In June, 27-year-old Delaine Williams pleaded guilty to falsifying a mortgage loan application so that it would be approved. It was alleged she falsely indicated that $5,000 for a down payment had come from a gift from a borrower’…

SARASOTA - The founder of a Sarasota nonprofit has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $76,000 in federal money that was supposed to go to internships for teenagers. As part of a plea agreement filed Thursday in a federal court in Tampa, Lyndon Jones, executive director of Man Up Inc., admitted to fraudulently double-billing the government for tens of thousands of dollars in wages for teenage interns in his program from 2009 to 2011. The…

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Federal agents arrested Stockton residents Lillian Marquez, 38, and Michael Keatts, 56, in their homes early this morning for a mortgage fraud scheme, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. A federal grand jury indictment charged them with conspiring to commit mortgage fraud and with nine counts of mail fraud. The indictment was unsealed today. The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned today at 2:00 p.m. in…

Michael E. McLaughlin, the former Chelsea Housing Authority director already serving a prison sentence for corruption, was indicted again today along with another former housing manager and a private contractor for allegedly rigging federal inspections so that public housing units in Chelsea would pass even though the apartments were poorly maintained. A federal grand jury in Boston also indicted James H. Fitzpatrick, the housing authority’s…

South Bend, Indiana —The United States Attorney’s Office announced the following activity in Federal Court: Ian T. Kideys, 49, of La Jolla, California, was sentenced by District Judge Robert L. Miller Jr. to 60 months of imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release and $1.4 million in restitution after pleading guilty to the felony offense of wire fraud.  Kideys was also sentenced in a separate matter to 60 months of imprisonment after…

WILLIAMSPORT — A federal grand jury has indicted a State College man on charges he lied about his income to live in subsidized housing and to obtain loans for several luxury vehicles. Ivan Viktorovich Kronin, 31, of Cypress Way, is accused in the indictment Thursday in U.S. Middle District Court of stating on vehicle loan applications that his annual income from KPS Construction was between $60,000 and $78,000. But in documents submitted to the…

An official who handled rent money from residents of Philadelphia Housing Authority homes allegedly used her position to steal about $8,000 over two years, the U.S. Attorney's office said. Sondra Wong Nelson, 36, of Philadelphia, allegedly stole the rent money between June 2010 and January 2012 in her capacity as a supervisory asset manager for PHA. The alleged scam was pretty simple, the U.S. Attorney said. When a tenant would bring in their…

Fourteen months after Point Township was cleared of wrongdoing in administering a $381,000 federal grant, the state Department of Community and Economic Development may foist the repayment demand it received from the federal government onto the Northumberland County municipality. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which distributes grants that aid in the creation of low-income housing, wrote in a Sept. 10 letter to DCED that…

PHILADELPHIA - Sondra Wong Nelson, 36, of Philadelphia was charged by Indictment, unsealed October 3, 2013, with one count of theft from a federally funded organization and two counts of falsely altering a postal money order, announced U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger. According to the indictment, between January 2012 and June 2010, during her tenure as a Supervisory Asset Manager at the Philadelphia Housing Authority (APHA@), Nelson embezzled…

TRENTON, N.J. B A Hudson County, N.J. man today admitted his role in paying bribes to a Bayonne public official for the public official’s assistance in securing projects funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. Joseph Arrigo, 45, of Bayonne, N.J., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of…

It seems as if there is always some bank, corporation or millionaire out there trying to take advantage of those less fortunate. In fact, this was a huge factor in the housing bubble that contributed to the economic recession that began in 2008. Unfortunately, certain predatory lending practices, such as mortgage fraud, have continuously been on the rise over the past few years. Many Arizonians wonder whether they’re also affected by this rise…

Former NFL player Irving Fryar and his mother were indicted by a New Jersey grand jury Wednesday on charges they conspired to steal more than $690,000 through a mortgage scam. In announcing the indictment, prosecutors said Fryar and his mother, Allene McGhee, engaged in a "sophisticated mortgage fraud scam" by allegedly having McGhee submit false information to obtain five loans on her home within a six-day period. The two were indicted on…

For Immediate Release September 30, 2013 Contact: HUD OIG Communications [email protected] Washington, DC – Today, Inspector General David A. Montoya announced the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a report entitled, “Moving to Work Demonstration Program.”  This audit was undertaken to focus HUD management’s attention on problem areas reported on over the years…

CHICAGO―Ten defendants, including five licensed loan originators, were indicted for allegedly participating in a scheme to fraudulently obtain approximately 52 residential mortgage loans totaling at least $14.5 million from various lenders. The indictment alleges that the mortgages were obtained to finance the purchase of various properties, primarily on the west and south sides of Chicago, by straw buyers who were fraudulently qualified for…

Eleven residents of Chicago and its suburbs have been indicted in a $14.5 million mortgage fraud scheme that involved homes on the city’s south and west sides. The Justice Department said the alleged wrongdoing involved 10 properties, 52 home loans and straw buyers who were fraudulently qualified for the mortgages between August 2004 and October 2012. As a result of the alleged fraud, authorities said lenders lost $8 million. Among the…

Updated: Friday, September 13 2013, 07:36 PM EDT COLUMBUS (Tom Sussi) -- We're updating a scandal at the Columbus Urban League ABC 6 Investigators first broke two years ago.   Former Urban League executive Ovell Harrison agreed to a plea deal today in federal court. Harrison pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud, and one count of aggravated theft. The 55-year-old is free on bond, and will be sentenced within the next two months.…