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.…

COLUMBUS, OHIO– Ovell Harrison, 55, of Columbus, Ohio pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft in connection with his position as Director of Education Services at the Columbus Urban League between 2004 and 2010. Carter M. Stewart, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, James Vanderberg, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor – Office of the Inspector…

ST. LOUIS • An old Coca-Cola plant redone as lofts held promise as a profitable way to buoy a south St. Louis neighborhood. Instead, the struggling site has embroiled the developers in a dispute over why the project defaulted on a federally insured loan. Prominent in the controversy are a critical audit by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a longtime St. Louis developer, a buried oil tank and a disgraced former HUD official. In…

LOWELL -- The City Council has called a special meeting to discuss the recently released federal audit of the Lowell Housing Authority, the findings of which could result in the LHA having to repay the federal government more than $11 million. The meeting will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m. The audit, completed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Inspector General's Office, found the LHA did not perform cost estimates and…

Sept. 13, 2013 -- Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore announced that five individuals were charged today in a scheme to steal Yonkers Municipal Housing Authority rent payments. Shamesha Holloway (DOB 01/16/88) of 615 Warburton Avenue, Yonkers, New York, Shakeia Davis (DOB 11/16/84) of 26 Rollins Avenue, Yonkers, New York, Dominique Hodges (DOB 12/23/88) of 114 Buena Vista Avenue, Yonkers, New York, Khrystina Harris (DOB 06/21/…

Testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations “Reducing Waste, Fraud and Abuse in Housing Programs: Inspector General Perspectives”  

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada-based homebuilder was sentenced Tuesday to 51 months in federal prison for siphoning money allocated for Navajo Nation housing projects in Arizona and New Mexico for personal gambling, jewelry and thoroughbred racehorse training expenses. William Aubrey, 71, of Mesquite, protested during his sentencing in Las Vegas that over the years he built thousands of affordable houses for tribe members. "I apologize for what I…

A Newport Coast man was resentenced today to five years behind bars and ordered to pay about $535,000 in restitution for a scheme to fraudulently obtain mortgage loans that went into default, causing more than $2.7 million in losses to the federal government and commercial lenders. Lorenzo Espinoza, 46, pleaded guilty in 2006 in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban…

CANTON -The classically styled, sleek, energy-efficient complex known as the Metropolitan Centre was supposed to be a crown jewel for the Stark Metropolitan Housing Authority. Instead, it turned out to be a four-story chunk of cubic zirconia the agency wants to sell — as soon as possible. The 54,000-square-foot Centre at 601 Cleveland Ave. NW opened in 2007. Today, it’s home to a nightclub, a Knights of Columbus, a physician’s office, a U.S.…

The Stark Metropolitan Housing Authority obliterated most cardinal rules of real estate when it completed a new home this year in the city’s near northwest area. The agency spent $297,000 to build a single-floor house, without a basement — on a postage-stamp-sized lot; within an eroding neighborhood; inside an under-performing school district; and surrounded by existing houses valued in the $50,000 range. “I don’t think it’s a justifiable…

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A former Charlotte area realtor pleaded guilty on Monday, August 26, 2013, to selling household appliances she unlawfully removed from vacant homes owned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Sember Lynn Smathers, 49, formerly of Shelby, N.C., pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David S. Cayer to one count of…

HUNTINGTON -- A former Huntington Housing Authority employee was indicted earlier this week on charges alleging she embezzled more than $20,000 from the agency in one year. Patricia Howard, 54, was charged with embezzlement from an organization receiving federal benefits during a federal grand jury hearing on Aug. 27, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said in a press release Friday. Howard is a former administrator for HHA's Shelter Plus Care Program…

BOSTON – The former executive director of the Chelsea Housing Authority (CHA) has been indicted for unlawfully soliciting contributions from state employees and other individuals to support multiple campaigns, including that of former Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced today. “We allege that McLaughlin used the CHA as a base for political fundraising, including in support of the former Lieutenant…

Timothy P. Murray agreed Thursday to pay $80,000 to settle charges that he collected $50,000 in illegal campaign contributions raised by two public officials, capping a controversy that derailed the former lieutenant governor’s political career. Murray, who resigned in June to take a position as head of the Worcester Chamber of Commerce, collected tens of thousands of dollars in donations solicited by former Chelsea Housing Authority executive…

SYRACUSE, NY -- Five people accused of bilking banks and homeowners in Central New York out of $1.1 million are facing a rarely used criminal charge. Until this week, no one in Onondaga County had been charged with first- or second-degree residential mortgage fraud over the past five years, according to data from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. Across the state, only 31 people over that time were charged with either of those…

Five Defendants Defrauded First-Time Home Buyers And Institutional Lenders In Rent-To-Own Scam Schneiderman: Preying On Innocent New Yorkers Who Want Nothing More Than An Opportunity To Own Their Own Home Is Repugnant SYRACUSE - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the indictment of two attorneys, an appraiser and two others for their roles in a mortgage fraud ring that operated for years and netted more than $1 million by…

DETROIT - Angela Reed, a Gulf War hero, was awarded three Bronze Stars for acts of heroism in a combat zone. On Thursday, a judge thanked her for her service before sentencing her to prison for what he called a deplorable act: taking cash bribes and preventing homeless people from getting the benefits they so badly need. "It's just not fair because people who have been homeless the longest continue to be homeless, while somebody who may…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AUGUST 28, 2013 FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF GALLUP HOUSING AUTHORITY CHARGED WITH FEDERAL FRAUD AND THEFT OFFENSES ALBUQUERQUE – A federal grand jury has indicted two men from Gallup, N.M., on charges that they engaged in a scheme to defraud the United States and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) of more than $100,000.  The indictment was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Steven C. Yarbrough…