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We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of its public housing agencies’ (PHA) reasonable accommodation policies and procedures.  We initiated this audit because we identified an increase in housing discrimination complaints based on a failure to provide a reasonable accommodation, even as the total number of all housing discrimination complaints was decreasing.  Our audit objective was to…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), completed an audit to determine whether FHA-insured borrowers properly received the COVID-19-related forbearance.  The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), signed into law on March 27, 2020, provided a mortgage payment forbearance option for all borrowers who suffered a financial hardship due to the COVID-19…

We conducted a limited review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act supplemental public housing operating funds (supplemental funds).  Our objective was to assess public housing agencies’ (PHA) experiences and challenges and HUD’s efforts in providing guidance related to the administration of the supplemental operating funds under the CARES Act. We…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of voucher utilization and reallocation in the Housing Choice Voucher Program based on the HUD Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) report on HUD’s top management challenges for fiscal year 2020 and HUD’s strategic goals and objectives reported in its 2018-2022 strategic plan.  In addition, while responding to a congressional inquiry from Senator Chuck…

BOSTON – The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced today a $7,000 settlement with 44 Hawthorne, LLC and its owner, Alek Vienneau, to resolve allegations that they submitted false claims to the federal government after receiving impermissible excess rent payments from a low income tenant while participating in a federal housing subsidy program. The Department of Housing and Urban Development provides federal funding through the Federal…

NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, man will be arraigned today on charges that he engaged in a conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud that resulted in potential losses in excess of $1 million, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. Cabral Simpson, 43, of Belleville, New Jersey, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre in Newark federal court. He is charged by indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit wire…

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ALLAN MANN, JR., also known as “Hailee Randolph DeSouza” and Hailey R. DeSouza,” 66, pleaded guilty today in New Haven federal court to a false statement offense related to his living in the U.S. under an assumed name for approximately 30 years. As alleged in court documents, Allan Mann abducted his 21-month-old son, Jermaine Allan Mann, on June 24…

Edward R. Daniel, a/k/a Edward Daniels, Judy Daniel, and the Edward R. Daniel Revocable Living Trust (collectively “Daniel”), a landlord participating in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Housing Choice Voucher/Section 8 (HCV) Program has paid the United States $50,000.00 to resolve civil claims.  The claims against Daniel, pursued under the False Claims Act, arise from the landlord’s alleged…

BOSTON – A Taunton woman was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for concealing information and making false statements in order to receive Social Security disability benefits and Section 8 housing assistance to which she was not entitled.    Marisha Ebanks, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs to four months in prison, three years of supervised release, with the first three months to be served in…

(source: thetimesherald.com) If true, the allegations against Lorena Loren, the former director of the St. Clair Housing Commission, are disturbing on a number of levels. Federal investigators allege Loren embezzled more than $300,000 from the housing commission between 2008 and 2016, when she retired. Most heartbreaking is that the money that Loren allegedly misdirected into her own pockets and those of some of her family members was…

(USAO ,NY) Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Mark G. Peters, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”), announced today the filing of criminal charges against six defendants for participating in long-running schemes to hide substantial assets and income obtained from significant business and real estate interests in order to attain government benefits…

(Source: dnainfo.com) WILLIAMSBURG — Three Brooklyn couples, including a landlord with properties all over the borough, were arrested Tuesday on charges of defrauding the government of $1.3 million worth of benefits. Shlomo Kubitshuk, 38, and his wife Rachel, 39, Naftali, 40, and Hinda Englander, 41, and Leib, 39, and Devorah Teitelbaum, 36, were accused of lying about their income to the federal government as far back as 2001 in order…

(Source: USAO NY) Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Christina Scaringi, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Housing and Urban Development - Office of Inspector General (“HUD-OIG”), announced the unsealing of a Complaint against the property manager, CARL IMMICH, for engaging in fraudulent schemes to embezzle funds from Harriet Tubman Terrace Apartments (“Tubman Terrace”), a…

The Office of Inspector General recognizes that we are facing both uncertain and unprecedented times and is alerting the public about potential fraud schemes related to the CARES Act funding. Dishonest people may approach you with fraudulent offers of assistance during these economically difficult times. Be on the lookout for these common schemes. Note that scam attempts may be made by phone, mail, text, email, social media, or in…

HUD OIG drafted a bulletin outlining guidance that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has provided for borrowers and servicers to implement the forbearance provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

HUD OIG drafted a fraud bulletin outlining potential loan modification and foreclosure rescue schemes that borrowers may face. 

HUD OIG drafted a fraud bulletin outlining potential common reverse mortgage schemes that borrowers may face, along with actions to take and not take if you are considering a reverse mortgage loan.

In response to the pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19), Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which provides protections to renters who receive assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).