HOUSTON - Representatives from numerous federal and state law enforcement agencies have formed a working group to investigate and prosecute illegal activity related to Hurricane Harvey. Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez made the announcement along with Acting U.S. Attorney Corey R. Amundson of the Middle District of Louisiana who serves as the Acting Executive Director of the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF), Harris County District…

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that URMILA SRI THAKUR, also known as Urmila Buddhu-Thakur and Indro Buddhu-Thakur, 72, of Wethersfield, pleaded guilty today in New Haven federal court to a money laundering offense stemming from a fraudulent debt elimination scheme. According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2009 to June 2012, THAKUR, her former husband, Deowraj “Deo”…

(Source: coshoctontribune.com) COSHOCTON – Officials are tight lipped regarding an ongoing investigation into the Coshocton Metropolitan Housing Authority regarding possible misappropriation of funds, however the board was to meet for an emergency meeting Tuesday evening. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the director's position, according to attorney Todd Drowns. The current executive director is Greg Darr. He's been with CMHA…

COSHOCTON – The board of the Coshocton Metropolitan Housing Authority suspended Executive Director Greg Darr indefinitely without pay during a special meeting Tuesday evening. Lisa Mowery, Section 8 housing coordinator, was named interim director. The board will meet again at 8 a.m. Friday at the board office to discuss further business, including how it will handle owed sick leave and vacation time to Darr, who has been with CMHA since August…

COSHOCTON - The Coshocton Metropolitan Housing Authority is being investigated for misappropriation of funds, according to Lt. Dean Hettinger of the Coshocton County Sheriff's Office. A search warrant related to a long term investigation of misappropriation of funds was executed shortly after 11 a.m. Monday at the CMHA office, part of the Coshocton Meadows low-income housing complex at 823 Magnolia St., Hettinger said. Searching was done at the…

Memphis, TN – A Memphis real estate investor has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for his role in a scheme to fraudulently obtain mortgage loans. Lawrence J. Laurenzi, Acting U.S. Attorney, announced the sentence today. An indictment returned last September by a federal grand jury alleged Thomas L. Boyd, 44, the owner of Wonderful Properties, LLC, made false statements and presented false documents to Regions Bank, First Tennesse…

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Wednesday that an audit of the West Warwick Housing Authority found that more than $2 million in “procurements” lacked proper documentation. Stephen O’Rourke, who started last January as the authority’s new executive director, was not in charge during the audit period, Jan. 1, 2012, through June 30, 2016. He said Wednesday that many files were thrown out by an…

Eugene Peter Kenworthy, Jr., age 50, of Ambler, PA, was charged today by Indictment with wire fraud, false statements for the purpose of influencing the Federal Housing Administration, aggravated identity theft, and failure to file a tax return, announced Acting United States Attorney Louis Lappen. If convicted the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence is 166 years’ imprisonment, five years of supervised release, a $5,050,000 fine, and a…

(Source: cleveland19.com) CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - The woman accused in a nationwide Facebook scam operation is in more hot water. Officers with the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority Police Department and an agent with the U.S. Office of Inspector General Department of Housing and Urban Development were at Zienup Sbeih's home in the Villages of Carver Park off of East 45th Street and Quincy Friday afternoon. Officers executed a county…

(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 meant to…

(Source: thetimesherald.com) The St. Clair Housing Commission’s former executive director is facing a fraud charge for allegedly misusing federal rental assistance funds and commission credit cards to benefit herself and family members.  The charges allege Lorena Loren embezzled more than $300,000. According to federal court documents filed Monday, Loren used Section 8 housing assistance payments to enter into fraudulent rental contracts…

(Source: skyvalleychronicle.com) (SEATTLE, WA.) -- The owner of a now defunct Tukwila, WA based real estate escrow firm was indicted last month by a federal grand jury on ten counts of bank fraud, and one count each of mail and wire fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes in Seattle Friday. Lori Lynn Andrew, 48, now of Cashmere, Washington near Wenatchee, the owner of Hartman Escrow, Inc., was arrested and arraigned on the indictment…

Department of Justice Acting United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow Middle District of Florida FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                            …

LITTLE ROCK—Patrick C. Harris, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Tracey D. Montaño, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation Division, and Phyllis G. Robinson, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)—Office of Inspector General, announced today that Chief United States District Judge Brian S. Miller sentenced Rhonda Williams, 50, and…

TRENTON –Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced that five additional individuals were charged criminally today with filing fraudulent applications for federal relief funds related to Superstorm Sandy. Since March 2014, the Attorney General’s Office has filed criminal charges against 96 people for allegedly engaging in this type of fraud, including the five individuals just charged. The Attorney General’s Office is continuing its…

CITYSIDE MANAGEMENT CORPORATION PAYS $4.3 MILLION TO RESOLVE FALSE CLAIMS ACT ALLEGATIONS Office of the United States Attorney Eastern District of California U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, July 26, 2017 www.justice.gov/edca CONTACT: LAUREN HORWOOD PHONE: 916-554-2706 [email protected] CITYSIDE MANAGEMENT CORPORATION PAYS $4.3 MILLION TO RESOLVE FALSE CLAIMS ACT ALLEGATIONS FRESNO, Calif. —…

(Source: The Guam Daily Post) Six people who were on the board of federally funded Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority, and the agency's executive director, face a combined 47 misdemeanor charges for allegedly holding secret meetings that violate the Open Government Law. The misdemeanor charges include violation of the law that requires keeping meetings open to the public, as well as official misconduct and conspiracy. "Illegal secret…

NEWARK, N.J. – A Newark police officer today admitted conspiring to fraudulently obtain payments under the federal public housing assistance program known as “Section 8,” Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced. Luis Cancel, 50, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares in Newark federal court to an information charging him with one count of agreeing with another individual to obtain Section 8 public housing…

TRENTON, N.J. – A former salesman at Bayway Lumber, a Linden, New Jersey, company that sold commercial and industrial products to numerous public and private entities, today admitted his role in a scheme to defraud customers and lying to a federal grand jury, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced. Adam Martignetti, 43, of South River, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan in Trenton federal…

Tampa, FL – Acting United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow announces a civil settlement with Alexander Olympus Zarris that resolves alleged violations of the False Claims Act (“FCA”) and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”) through reverse mortgage transactions engineered by Zarris at a Tarpon Springs condominium complex. Zarris will pay $475,000 to address the damage his conduct caused to a…