Monique Le Nguyen sentenced

Monique Le Nguyen, aka Monique Dzung Le, 60, Milpitas, California, a licensed real estate agent, was sentenced by United States District Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill to 20 months in federal prison for conspiring to commit mail fraud in connection with the financing and acquisition of five residential properties in Fresno and Mendocino Counties, California, that were later used for the indoor cultivation of large quantities of marijuana. Nguyen was also ordered to pay restitution to the lenders, which suffered actual losses of $678,224.32 as a result of post-sale foreclosures on the Fresno County properties.

Florida-licensed mortgage lender sentenced to 10 years in prison

Peter James Porcelli, II, 57, Pinellas County, Florida, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew to 10 years in federal prison for mail fraud. As part of Porcelli's sentence, the Court entered a money judgment for $1.8 million, an amount equal to proceeds from the fraud. Porcelli had pleaded guilty on April 15, 2010.

According to court documents, Porcelli was a Florida-licensed mortgage lender with his company, Silverstone Lending. Through court lists, Porcelli found people whose homes were falling into foreclosure. Posing as "Peter James," a "Relief Coordinator" for the "nonprofit" Safe Harbour Foundation, Porcelli mailed the homeowners flyers about Safe Harbour. The flyers made it appear that Safe Harbour was there to save the homeowners in their hour of need. When homeowners responded to the flyers, however, "Peter James" referred them to Peter Porcelli at Silverstone Lending, who lent them high-fee, highinterest, short-term balloon payment loans. The fees for Porcelli's loans averaged approximately 60% of the total amount of each loan, and the interest on the loans was as high as 260.18% APR. The loans generally came due in six months.

Many victims lost their homes when they could not repay Porcelli's loans, including one victim who became homeless as a result of the offense.

Florida man receives almost 16 years behind bars for mortgage fraud

Peter Bakowski, 59, Tampa, Florida, the mastermind behind a $20 million mortgage fraud related Ponzi scheme, was sentenced to 188 months (15 years, 8 months) in federal prison and ordered to pay $16.1 million in restitution.

According to court documents, Bakowski was a licensed mortgage broker at the time he perpetrated his scheme, misusing his credentials to sell the same mortgage to multiple victims. In order to keep the Ponzi scheme going Bakowski would pay returns to the preceding investors with money from new investors. More than 30 victims were affected, including investors and institutions, and more than 150 properties involved. Many of the investors were elderly.

68 years jail time for real estate fraud

Kathy Chen, 49, Westminster, California, a real estate broker, was sentenced to 68 years and six months in state prison for conspiring with her boyfriend and his brother to commit $17.5 million in real estate fraud by purchasing 35 properties using stolen identities and intentionally defaulting on loans in order to steal the loan money.

Chen was found guilty by a jury May 18, 2010, of 136 felony counts including one count of conspiracy, 47 counts of grand theft, one count of attempted grand theft, 37 counts of forgery, 27 counts of recording false documents, 15 counts of identity theft, one count of elder financial exploitation, four counts of forging an official seal, and three counts of filing false state income tax returns. The sentencing enhancements for causing loss in excess of $2.5 million and $100,000 were found true. Chen will face a restitution hearing on Nov. 8, 2010, at 9:00 a.m. in Department W-9, West Justice Center, Westminster.

Jeffrey St. Martin's trial to start tomorow

Jeffrey St. Martin, 38, Chicago, Illinois, is scheduled to begin trial on Monday, October 25, 2010, in Judge Nancy McDonnell 's courtroom in Cuyahoga County, Illinois.

St. Martin was the main defendant in a criminal enterprise that purchased 21 houses, mostly in Cleveland, Illinois, with fraudulent loans totaling 3.1 million dollars. The criminal enterprise entailed the same schemes to deceive lenders: loan application fraud, down-payment scheme, and kickbacks to defendants upon closing the sale of the house. St. Martin orchestrated this fraud by associating himself with various companies that submitted fraudulent loans. He and his codefendant companion, Ayanna Israel, 33, Chicago, Illinois, acted as loan officers and obtained fraudulent loans from lenders. They received kickbacks at the closing of the houses.

Cuyahoga County Mortgage Fraud Task Force, operating under authorization of Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray and Ohio's Organized Crime Investigations Commission, conducted the investigation. A sheriff deputy from Sheriff Reid's office heads the Task Force. HUD was a lead investigative agency on this case.

$5.5M Fraud Scheme

Jeffrey Gonsiewski, 56, Wood Dale, Illinois, a former suburban bank vice president pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges, admitting that he changed the terms of at least 100 loans for at least 50 customers and caused the bank to lose at least $5.5 million. Gonesiewski, formerly vice president of the loan department at First Security Trust and Savings Bank, Elmwood Park, Illinois, altered loan documents to make it appear that customers' payments were current when he knew they were actually overdue, which prevented the bank from taking timely action to collect delinquent loans and protect its assets.

Gonsiewski pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud after being charged last month. U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo set sentencing for Dec. 3. He faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, while a written plea agreement contemplates an advisory federal sentencing guideline range of 51 to 78 months in prison. The Court also must order mandatory restitution.

According to a written plea agreement, between September 2004 and February 2009, Gonsiewski caused the bank to issue unsecured and undersecured loans by falsely representing that the loans were secured by adequate collateral even though he knew that the collateral was either nonexistent or insufficient to secure the loans. He also changed the terms and conditions of loans to conceal that payments were overdue; fraudulently caused the bank to cover checks totaling more than $2 million written on overdrawn accounts; and created false loan documents, including forging signatures.

The guilty plea was announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of Federal Bureau of Investigation.

McLean Man Sentenced 63 Months for Mortgage Fraud

Aaron V. Hernandez, 41, of McLean, Va., was sentenced to 63 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release, for running a mortgage fraud scheme that caused more than $4.5 million in losses. Hernandez was ordered to pay more than $4.5 million in restitution and was ordered to forfeit approximately $2.4 million.
On May 21, 2010, Hernandez pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and bank fraud. According to court documents, Hernandez was employed by a company in Woodbridge, Va., during 2006 and learned from its employees how to falsify the loan applications of prospective purchasers of vacant, sub-divided lots in North Carolina and South Carolina. The fraud included providing fake employment information and inflating buyers’ income levels, value of the real estate that they owned, or other liquid assets purportedly held by the applicants.
In December 2006, Hernandez struck out on his own and formed mortgage companies in Northern Virginia, using the same fraudulent practices he learned from his previous employer. His businesses grew to more than 10 employees, at least three of whom he conspired with to provide false and fraudulent loan applications to lenders.

Court documents list at least 14 properties that Hernandez financed through these fraudulent practices, all of which eventually resulted in foreclosure. The financial loss suffered totaled more than $4.5 million.

GEORGE ESSO and RAVI PERSAUD found guilty in a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme

GEORGE ESSO, a former loan officer, were found guilty of participating in a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme through GuyAmerican Funding Corp., a mortgage brokerage located in Queens, New York. The scheme involved the use of numerous fraudulent loan applications designed to trick banks into lending money to unqualified borrowers for the purchase of residential properties in the New York City area. In total, ESSO and RAVI PERSAUD were charged along with eight other defendants in a scheme that defrauded banks out of more than $23 million in home mortgage loans.

ESSO, 38, of Saint Albans, New York, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and one count of bank fraud, and faces a maximum penalty of 60 years in prison.

RAVI PERSAUD, 44, of Glen Head, New York, was convicted of one count of bank and wire fraud and three counts of bank fraud. He faces a maximum sentence of 120 years in prison.

Both defendants will be required to pay restitution to the victims of their offenses, and to forfeit the proceeds of their crimes.

PEGGY PERSAUD, ORETTE KILLIKELLY, and ELTON LORD previously pled guilty.

The case against CHEDDI GOBERDHAN is still pending.