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FOX 8 New Orleans

New Orleans' inspector general says a combination of evaluations, audits and criminal probes have saved the city more than $10 million in wasteful spending and fraudulent payments in the last year. The findings are highlighted in the 2012 annual report from the office of Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux, published Thursday. "Joint investigations with our federal partners led to eleven indictments and 11 convictions," reads the IG's introduction to the report. "Two cases on state charges resulted in a conviction and an acquittal. Administrative...

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Theis Week Community News

A Hilliard couple are awaiting sentencing in connection with a $7 million mortgage fraud scheme after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges Jan. 18 in federal court. Title agent Deborah L. Kistner, 50, and her husband, Mark A. Kistner, 52, both of Hilliard, entered the plea after three days of trial in U.S. District Court in Columbus. Mrs. Kistner pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, three counts of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of bank fraud...

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Bloomberg

New Yorkers Paul and Angelica Kashman, declared in default on their mortgage in July 2010 and foreclosed on by Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) in February 2011, say they aren’t deadbeats. “We always knew that when we get into a court of law and show that we have all the information and backup, the truth will come out,” said Paul Kashman, 37, a manager in the hospitality industry. The couple, stuck in limbo by legal bureaucracy, says they were mistakenly pushed into foreclosure, and are eager now to save their home, using court mediation...

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Detroit News

A Redford Township real estate broker was arraigned Wednesday on charges tied to an extensive mortgage fraud scheme. Samer Salami, 32, of Canton Township, faces 12 counts in the case involving multiple Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac properties in nine Wayne County communities. County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said during a news conference Wednesday that Salami is alleged to have run the $488,000 operation from August 2007 to April 2010 while employed at Villa Realty in Redford Township. The "breakthrough" case is the first...

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Tulsa World

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has penalized the city of Tulsa $704,930 for failing to spend Community Development Block Grants in a timely fashion. The fine, levied late last year, has been imposed in the form of a reduction in the city's fiscal year 2012 allocation, which was decreased from $3,206,807 to $2,501,877. Dafne Pharis, director of the city's Grants Administration Department, said the city plans to make up for the lost funding and that the fine would not affect individual recipients to whom funds were...

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KVTN TV NEWS

Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto today reminded qualified borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure that January 18 is the deadline for filing claims for a one-time payment under the $25 billion national mortgage foreclosure settlement. These borrowers are encouraged to contact the Home Again hotline (1-855-HLP-4-NEV) for assistance. One week after the launch of the new Home Again Nevada Homeowner Relief Program the call center has fielded 2,260 contacts (2,015 calls, 245 online inquiries) – further evidence that Nevadans need a place to turn to resolve their real estate problems...

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Pasadena Star-News

MONTEBELLO - City officials announced that they have settled a lawsuit against Walnut-based developer, Danny Ku, whom officials claim defrauded Montebello out of $1.3 million in federal dollars meant for affordable housing, setting off a storm of federal investigations and seemingly endless scrutiny. Montebello and Ku agreed last week to put an end to a suit that the city filed in 2011 alleging fraud, breach of contract and unjust enrichment over a controversial housing project that the developer never constructed. Ku and his development firm, Ku and Associates, Inc., in 2008 were given a $1.3 million federal grant to build a mixed-use development with affordable housing on Whittier Boulevard...

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Associated Press

Bank of America has reached a settlement with Fannie Mae on residential mortgage loans sold by the bank and its Countrywide unit to the agency ahead of the nation's 2008 financial crisis. The settlement includes a $3.6 billion payment to Fannie Mae. Bank of America will also buy back some of the loans sold to Fannie Mae for $6.75 billion...

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The Ledger

BALTIMORE - Federal officials have extended a regulatory waiver that makes it easier to "flip" properties, a move meant to encourage the renovation of foreclosed homes but that critics say could herald the return of predatory schemes. The Federal Housing Administration has waived through 2014 an anti-flipping regulation, which had prevented the agency from insuring mortgages on properties sold within 90 days of acquisition ...

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The Marco Eagle

FORT MYERS — After two days of arguments and testimony, a federal judge on Monday is expected to decide the fate of a North Naples real estate flipper convicted of wire and tax fraud involving $3.3 million in Southwest Florida real estate deals. U.S. District Judge John Steele will issue an order on the sentencing range he's considering for Alfredo J. Sararo, 42, a local tennis pro, and the defense and prosecutor will present final arguments before he's sentenced for ...

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PRWeb

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) welcomes a recently released Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) policy exempting small community banks from Federal Housing Administration (FHA) paperwork burdens. The new HUD update eliminates a regulatory mandate requiring small FHA lenders to submit internal control and compliance reports completed by an outside auditor...

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The Gainsville Sun

Alachua County Housing Authority Executive Director Gail Monahan is retiring after 40 years over issues with an official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Jacksonville office. Monahan, 63, said she feels that, as long as she remains executive director, the head of the Jacksonville Office of Public Housing, Victoria Main, will block Housing Authority funding requests to add or expand programs...

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REUTERS

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Sunday confirmed the head of the Federal Housing Administration in her position despite mounting losses the mortgage funding agency that some fear could eventually lead to a taxpayer bailout. In a 69-24 vote, the Senate confirmed Carol Galante as an assistant secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Galante, a former affordable housing developer in San Francisco, had been running the FHA...

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Herald News

JOLIET —-Mayor Thomas Giarrante has asked for resignations from all seven board members at the Housing Authority of Joliet. Giarrante said Monday that he will not necessarily replace all the board members but wants to review their oversight of operations after HAJ was designated “troubled” by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in October after a review of the agency. . ...

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Tuscaloosa News

TUSCALOOSA - Things are looking brighter for the Tuscaloosa Housing Authority, which had some serious problems just a few years ago. The authority recently received three awards from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and next month it will hold a ribbon-cutting dedicating the first phase of newly constructed housing at Rosedale Court on...

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Contra Costa Times

As the housing market began to crumble five years ago, a desperate Seeno company began paying $30,000 apiece to obtain loans for unqualified buyers at an Oakland development, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed Friday. In this latest revelation of legal problems involving Contra Costa's Seeno construction family, kickbacks on those payments went to three people -- one of Bank of America's top loan officers, a mortgage broker and an employee of Discovery Sales, one of the Seenos' companies, the complaint said...

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WWLTV.COM

JEFFERSON, La. -- Five Jefferson Parish Housing Authority board members ousted last week have sued parish President John Young and the parish council in federal court, claiming they were defamed and fired from the board without cause. The five ousted board members who filed suit today in U.S. District Court in New Orleans are former Chairman Patrick Pierson, William Boada, Hunley Dufour, Simone Scanio and Mary Snowden...

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YAHOO News

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A block grant program that sends millions of dollars to communities across Wisconsin will no longer be administered by the state's beleaguered quasi-private economic development agency after the federal government questioned the legality of such an arrangement. The decision was announced Tuesday at a meeting of the board of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., which has been beset with problems ever since its creation last year. A pair of independent reviews of WEDC's operations identified a number of problems and issued a series of recommendations, including upgrading computer software and hiring more people to better track loans and other financial transactions. ...

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Chicago Tribune

The Illinois Attorney General's office filed lawsuits Tuesday against two companies that it alleges preyed on struggling homeowners with a new type of mortgage rescue fraud in the Chicago area. Instead of just promising mortgage loan modifications, the companies allegedly offered "mortgage loan audits" to homeowners, convincing them that an audit of their loan would cut their mortgage payments and help them avoid foreclosure. The companies illegally charged upfront fees, which victims paid without receiving assistance...

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KOMU TV

When controversial executive director John Afoun left his position in 2010, it seemed a fresh start was possible for the Mexico Housing Authority. But a Target 8 Investigation reveals that things at the Housing Authority are still far from problem-free, riddled with substandard ratings, financial irregularities and yet another executive director with a questionable past...

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Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican senators are pressing the U.S. government's housing official to take steps to shore up the federal agency that insures mortgages for millions of borrowers. An audit shows the agency faces $16.3 billion in losses and might require a taxpayer bailout. Shaun Donovan, secretary of housing and urban development, said Thursday at a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee that the agency, the Federal Housing Administration, has already taken action to strengthen its finances. ...

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Reporter

Three former employees of now defunct Pierce Commercial Bank were sentenced to prison terms today for their roles in the mortgage fraud scheme that substantially contributed to the demise of the bank, announced U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. The three repeatedly created fraudulent documents in loan files and provided false information, to make the loans appear sound. Some of the employees were veterans of the mortgage industry who followed the conspiracy leader Shawn Portmann to PC Bank Home Loans, a subsidiary of Pierce Commercial Bank, when he offered them substantially higher salaries than they were making elsewhere. These defendants collected those salaries while facilitating the fraud that enriched Portmann and ultimately caused Pierce Commercial Bank to fail...

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The Post and Courier

When the North Charleston Housing Authority fired its executive director in 1998 for using an authority credit card to pay for personal expenses, officials pledged such a thing would never happen again, and then hired George Saldana, a housing official from Florida, to run the authority. Now Saldana, who was executive director through May 2011, is charged with a felony count of embezzlement, accused of using an authority credit card to pay for personal expenses. Saldana, 58, was arrested Thursday, booked at the Charleston County jail, and released on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond. Arrest papers said Saldana lives in North Carolina, while court records said he lives in Florida...

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The Washington Post

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan will head to Capitol Hill on Thursday to talk about a different sort of fiscal cliff: the one potentially facing the Federal Housing Administration. The Senate Banking Committee hearing comes three weeks after an independent annual audit showed that growing losses from mortgage delinquencies could force the FHA to seek taxpayer aid for the first time as soon as next year...

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Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican senators are pressing the U.S. government's housing official to take steps to shore up the federal agency that insures mortgages for millions of borrowers. An audit shows the agency faces $16.3 billion in losses and might require a taxpayer bailout. Shaun Donovan, secretary of housing and urban development, said Thursday at a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee that the agency, the Federal Housing Administration, has already taken action to strengthen its finances. ...

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greenwichtime.com

FAIRFIELD -- The federal government is investigating the Fairfield Housing Authority over missing cash and "suspect transactions" allegedly made by a former employee who now apparently works in Truth or Consequences, N.M. FHA Executive Director Carol Martin said Wednesday the transactions were discovered after she took over the job last April from Elizabeth Gutierrez, who was given a leave of absence by the housing authority last December...

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Observer-Dispatch

UTICA — A recent audit of the Utica Municipal Housing Authority and its subsidiary, Rebuild Mohawk Valley, found several violations of board and federal policies. Rebuild Mohawk Valley technically is an independent affiliate of the housing authority but is financially dependent on and run by the housing authority. The findings identified an improper $50,000 loan to Rebuild Mohawk Valley, missing bid files and a lack of oversight on several items, including homes involved in the HOPE VI program, a federal housing program overseen by Rebuild Mohawk Valley...

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wbaltv.com

TOWSON, Md. — A man who had no license to be in the loan modification business and who didn't heed warnings from the state to cease and desist was sentenced Monday for defrauding as many as 48 victims. A judge sentenced Baltimore County resident Rodney Getlan to 35 years in prison for mortgage fraud. Those victims are from Maryland and across the country. In court, Getlan claimed he was trying to help homeowners get loan modifications just as his own life spiraled out of control.

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citizensvoice.com

In the private sector, a CEO who hid a potential $6 million liability from the board of directors would be quickly shown the door. That's apparently not how it works at the Luzerne County Courthouse. County Manager Robert Lawton, who kept the county council in the dark about an audit recommending the county repay the federal government $6 million spent in a botched attempt to rehabilitate the Hotel Sterling, appears to retain the confidence of a majority of council members...

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Slidell Sentry News

The Slidell Housing Authority, a once troubled agency that failed to be in compliance with audit reports and policies set forth by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is now listed as a “standard performer” by the HUD. SHA Chairperson Dr. Adrian Talbot, MD, JD, and Executive Director Shelia j. Danzey, went before the Slidell City Council Tuesday night to announce the agency’s modern drive towards success ...

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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A bankruptcy attorney who didn't file tax returns for 2005 and 2006 was sentenced today to three years' probation. Robert L. Williams, 50, said he "made a terrible mistake with this, judge," just before U.S. District Judge Gary L. Lancaster imposed the sentence. "It's very humbling being on this side of the legal system." Mr. Williams, of New Kensington, pleaded guilty in April to two counts of the misdemeanor failing to file income tax returns. His attorney, Charles Porter, today said Mr. Williams relied...

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The Philadelphia Inquirer

In a major step toward restoring local control of the Philadelphia Housing Authority, Mayor Nutter has submitted to City Council the names of nine candidates for the agency's Board of Commissioners. Resolutions for each nominee, introduced Thursday by Council President Darrell L. Clarke, are likely to be voted on before Council's last session on Dec. 13. Since March 2011, PHA has been under the control of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with only one commissioner, Estelle B. Richman...

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Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) - Federal authorities filed a lawsuit to seize the Florida home of a Michigan Supreme Court justice, accusing her of fraud by hiding control of the real estate while persuading a bank to allow a short sale on another property. Diane Hathaway is not charged with a crime, but forfeiture complaints in federal court typically lead to a criminal case. In 2010, Hathaway and her husband, Michael Kingsley, submitted a hardship letter to ING Bank seeking a short sale on their home in Grosse Pointe Park, a Detroit suburb. The couple did not disclose that they had put their home in Windermere, Fla., in the name of Kingsley's daughter, the government said...

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Detroit Free Press

State Attorney General Bill Schuette announced Monday that he is filing a criminal charge against the former executive of a Georgia-based document processing firm where workers allegedly forged close to a million signatures on home mortgage documents nationwide, including more than 1,000 signatures for Michigan mortgages...

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Las Vegas Sun

Some $6 billion in grants have been allocated throughout the Neighborhood Stabilization Program by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development since 2008, with most of that money aimed at helping local governments purchase and renovate homes for resale to those hard hit by the recession. Nevada municipalities received about $100 million in federal grants. Las Vegas received about $31 million. Thursday, officials will discuss issues of how that funding ...

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Shauna Zamarripa | Yahoo! Contributor Network - When I did my time in real estate, I came across a lot of potential fraud and shady dealings that the average buyer or seller might miss. And as mortgage fraud has become more and more popular in the news lately, I got to thinking about some of the mortgage fraud I saw -- and reported. The thing you need to know about mortgage fraud is that even though it comes in a wide variety of flavors, all mortgage fraud shares one common denominator: it's all illegal and punishable by law. However, mortgage fraud is difficult to spot for the average buyer, making Caveat emptor (buyer beware) all the more important...

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A Springfield man was sentenced Thursday in federal court for mortgage fraud and ordered to pay nearly $1.3 million in restitution. Richard B. Gillette, 30, of Springfield was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr to two years in federal prison without parole, according to a press release from the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri...

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -The Saratoga Springs Housing Authority Board of Commissioners needs to exercise more oversight of the authority’s financial operations and its top executive, according to an audit by the state Comptroller’s Office. “We found there was inadequate oversight”...

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WASHINGTON - A federal agency that insures mortgages for millions of low- and middle-income borrowers is facing losses of $16.3 billion and may require taxpayer support, according to an independent audit released Friday. The Federal Housing Administration's estimated losses were steeper than earlier projections. That shows high numbers of mortgage defaults triggered by the housing crisis have reduced the FHA's reserve funds...

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KINGSTON, NY - A heated exchange erupted Wednesday night between a Common Council leader and two members of Mayor Shayne Gallo’s administration who claimed federal funds were misused under the previous mayor’s administration. Jennifer Fuentes, director of the city’s Office for Community Development, asked the council’s Finance/Economic...

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SANTA BARBARA, CA - The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has begun an in-depth review of Santa Barbara County’s administration of the federal Home Investment Partnership Act (HOME) housing program. The Inspector General’s office is an independent agency within HUD that is charged with detecting fraud, waste and abuse, as well as investigating allegations of misconduct by HUD employees...

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DUNKIRK, NY - A New York State audit raises red flags about a million dollars worth of "questionable" spending of federal HUD money by the City of Dunkirk. In Dunkirk, a city of about 12,000, 53 percent of its people are considered low- or middle-income. But more than a million dollars designated to rebuild urban neighborhoods was mishandled, according to the State Comptroller's Office. State Comptroller spokesman...

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RESTON, VA - Homeowners and attorneys need to understand a promissory note; mortgage/deed of trust is a contract - period. "Only exposure of contract breaches, legal errors, and/or tortious conduct underlying a mortgage transaction provides a sound strategic basis for liberating homeowners from the bondage of foreclosure." So says Storm Bradford, Founder of Mortgage Fraud Examiners. Moreover, attorneys need to be careful; according to several ethics counsel...

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SEATTLE, WA -The City of Seattle’s Human Services and Economic Development departments received millions from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 2011, but failed to properly document how subcontracting organizations used the money, according to a new report. The Washington State Auditor found six separate problems involving how the Office of...

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LEXINGTON, KY -A woman whose job it was to help homeowners avoid foreclosure ended up stealing from her clients. "We didn't have any kind of savings at that point; all of our savings were gone," Pamela Hudson, a mortgage fraud victim, said. "So, I had my mother's engagement and wedding ring." The choice was emotional - but Hudson decided to sell her deceased mother's rings rather than lose her home in foreclosure. ...

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SARASOTA, FL -A 69-year-old man pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit bank fraud that resulted in more than $6 million in losses for banks, according to a release from U.S. Attorney Robert E. O'Neill. Arthur R. Seaborne of Sarasota faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison at his sentencing hearing, which has been scheduled for Jan. 24, the release said. Starting in March 2003 running through July 2008, Seaborne and others conspired to commit bank fraud and he used several corporate entities to perpetuate the fraud scheme, including Southeast Capital Advisors, LLC, the release said...

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NEW YORK, Ny -U.S. bank Wells Fargo said it should be exempt from a federal case involving mortgage fraud due to its participation in a foreclosure case settlement. Five banks, including Wells Fargo, agreed to a $25 billion payment to settle charges of depriving home owners of due process in their hiring of law firms termed "foreclosure mills," when trying to rush through the huge number of foreclosures that resulted from the financial crisis of 2008 and the concurrent economic downturn...

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SALT LAKE CITY, UT -A Utah man has been sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar scheme to sell property in a Hurricane subdivision at inflated prices. Raymond Morris of South Weber, Utah, was sentenced Monday in federal court in Charleston for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. Federal prosecutors said six defendants were sentenced in the scheme that reaped nearly $2 million in lost equity from defrauded lenders in less than two years...

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FORT WAYNE, IN - Two Fort Wayne men were sentenced to 21 months in federal prison this week after they pleaded guilty to participating in a mortgage fraud scheme. In July, Johnny Stine, 40, and Ryan Webb, 32, pleaded guilty to making false statements in connection with a mortgage loan. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jon E. DeGuilio in South Bend sentenced each man to 21 months in prison and two years of supervised release. ...

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DALLAS, TX -Five defendants, who each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, stemming from their participation in a mortgage fraud scheme that involved approximately $9 million in fraudulent loans, have been sentenced, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. Fredrick Barnard Lynch, 40, of Desoto, Texas, who was involved with ADJ Mortgage, PLLC, a real estate entity, was sentenced this week to 48 months in prison and ordered to pay $1.9 million in restitution. He pleaded guilty in September 2011...

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BOSTON, MA - Easton’s former housing director spent hours at work sending flirtatious e-mails to various men, then resigned before an audit last June showed she had badly neglected the apartment buildings she was supposed to manage. By then, Susan Horner had a new job: teaching other housing officials how to improve their performance. ...

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI -Scott D. Hoeft, the owner of a Grand Rapids real-estate title agency Prime Title Services, has agreed to plead guilty in a $12 million mortgage scheme, court records show. Hoeft will plead guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to the plea agreement, filed Thursday, Nov. 1. He faces up to 30 years in prison and up to ...

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