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…

WASHINGTON – A Miami title agent and former mortgage broker was sentenced today for her role in a reverse mortgage loan fraud scheme. Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, and Special Agent in Charge Lester Fernandez of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General (HUD-OIG) made the…

NEW ORLEANS -- Based on the findings of our Eyewitness Investigation, federal authorities charged a developer whose family is a major supporter of Gov. Bobby Jindal with fraudulently billing a state Katrina recovery program. And Praveen Kailas pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit theft of government funds and one count of theft of government funds. He was charged in June and agreed to plead guilty Aug. 1. The case was unsealed…

Just as New Haven was ready to start fixing the mess a developer made of a longtime housing co-op, a judge has halted a crucial tax foreclosure sale—and may have postponed any further action for at least three more months. Superior Court Judge Michael Maronich ruled that the city may not go ahead with a foreclosure auction planned for this Saturday at the former co-op known as Dwight Gardens. The co-op comprises 80 townhouse apartments on…

RealtyTrac reported last week that Oregon is the second hottest spot in the nation for home foreclosure. And as The Skanner News went to press this week, the national Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a report faulting mortgage servicing processes – and calling out Attorney General Eric Holder for not doing enough for consumers. While many critics blame defaulted homeowners for creating their own financial problems, the issue of…

Reports of mortgage fraud declined in 2012, the first decrease in such reports since the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) started tracking them in 2002. FinCEN received 69,277 Mortgage Loan Fraud Suspicious Activity Reports (MLF SARs) in 2012, 25% fewer than the record 92,561 in 2011. In its report, FinCEN associates the decrease with an unusual spike in MLF SARs filed in 2011, which resulted from an influx of…

CHARLOTTE — An Asheboro man and a Pinehurst man are among a group working for Phoenix Housing Group who are facing potentially decades in prison and millions in fines on federal charges involving a $158 million consumer and mortgage fraud conspiracy. The announcement was made by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina on Aug. 13. Andrew B. McKeown, 38, of Asheboro and Dennis Wayne Parris, 55, of Pinehurst are among…

PHILADELPHIA – Joel Tillett, 36, of Whitehall, PA, was sentenced today to four years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $979,562.20 in connection with a mortgage fraud conspiracy.  Tillett, the former general manager of Madison Funding, Inc., a now-defunct Allentown mortgage loan origination company, pleaded guilty on May 14, 2013 to conspiracy and to uttering and publishing false documents to obtain a loan insured by the…

The former manager of an Allentown mortgage company was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison for his role in a long-running mortgage fraud scheme. U.S. District Judge Harvey R. Bartle also ordered Joel Tillett, 36, of Whitehall Township, to pay nearly $980,000 in restitution after he pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy and forgery to obtain a government-insured loan. According to court documents, Tillett and other employees of Madison…

SAN DIEGO – A federal grand jury has indicted San Diego businessman Michael A. Smith on charges that he engaged in an elaborate scheme to defraud the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians out of $1.25 million.  According to an indictment unsealed yesterday, Smith learned that the Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians, located in San Diego County, had access to a HUD…

An investor in a Charleston real estate development was sentenced today to time served for his role in a 2007 mortgage scheme that bilked lenders out of more than $400,000. Jason G. Haywood, who has no prior criminal history, agreed in a deal with federal prosecutors to turn over 31 villas at 1 Rice Drive in West Ashley to the banks involved. . That would enable the lenders to sell the properties and recoup some if not all of their money.…