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By Dennis Norman, on May 12th, 2012 The collapse of the real estate market, along with a down economy has created a fertile environment for fraudsters to attempt to advantage of the many desperate homeowners that are out there. Their methods vary from foreclosure “rescue” schemes, mortgage assistance scams and other scams that generally offer to lower your payments or debt, prevent [...]
By News Desk, on March 12th, 2012
The Justice Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and 49 state attorneys general announced today the filing of their landmark $25 billion agreement with the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses. [...]
By News Desk, on March 10th, 2012 On Thursday of this week, Asst. Atty General Thomas Perez testified before a Senate Committee at a hearing on fair lending in which he testified that he has “seen all too frequently that African Americans and Latinos seeking equal credit opportunity were judged by the color of their skin rather than the content of their [...]
By News Desk, on February 9th, 2012 $25 Billion Agreement Provides Homeowner Relief & New Protections, Stops Abuses
WASHINGTON – U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and Colorado Attorney General John W. Suthers announced today that the federal government and 49 state attorneys general have reached a landmark [...]
By News Desk, on January 7th, 2012
An Austin, Texas, man pleaded guilty today in the Western District of Texas for his role in operating a foreclosure-rescue scam in Southern California and elsewhere that charged distressed homeowners fees in exchange for fraudulently postponing foreclosure sales. [...]
By News Desk, on December 8th, 2011
WASHINGTON – Lisa Wright, 46, and Cathy Saffer, 52, of Pompano Beach, Fla., were charged today with a conspiracy to defraud homeowners and banks in a foreclosure rescue scheme, announced the Department of Justice. Also charged was Barrington Coombs, 57, a certified public accountant of Weston, Fla., who participated in the scheme. A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida returned an indictment charging Wright and Saffer with one count of conspiracy, three counts of mail fraud and three counts of wire fraud. The grand jury charged Coombs with one count of conspiracy and one count of wire fraud. [...]
By News Desk, on September 30th, 2011 WASHINGTON – Alexander Otis Matthews, a Virginia real estate businessman, was sentenced today to 10 years in prison in connection with mortgage and investment schemes to obtain more than $12 million in fraudulent loans.
The sentencing was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Neil H. [...]
By News Desk, on September 1st, 2011 WASHINGTON – Thomas E. Parenteau of Hilliard, Ohio, was sentenced today to 22 years in prison for conspiring with his wife, his mistress and their accountant, to commit tax fraud and money laundering, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Parenteau was also sentenced for conspiring to obstruct justice and tamper with witnesses.
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By News Desk, on August 15th, 2011 SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A real estate investor pleaded guilty last Friday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento to conspiring to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions held in San Joaquin County, Sharis A. Pozen, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, and Benjamin B. Wagner, [...]
By News Desk, on August 7th, 2011 WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice today filed a lawsuit against the city of Joliet, Ill., alleging that the city violated the Fair Housing Act and the Housing and Community Development Act by taking a series of actions, culminating in the taking through eminent domain a federally-subsidized affordable housing development, that would displace more [...]
By News Desk, on August 4th, 2011 MIAMI – Louis Gendason of Delray Beach, Fla.; Kimberly Mackey of Pittsburgh; and John Incandela, of Palm Beach, Fla., pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their participation in a $2.5 million Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, or reverse mortgage, fraud scheme . [...]
By News Desk, on July 15th, 2011 WASHINGTON – Alexander Otis Matthews, a Virginia real estate businessman pleaded guilty today to fraud charges in connection with mortgage and investment schemes to obtain more than $12 million in fraudulent loans.
The guilty plea was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride of [...]
By News Desk, on July 3rd, 2011 Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON — Eight California real estate investors have agreed to plead guilty for their roles in two separate conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California, the Department of Justice announced.
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By News Desk, on June 25th, 2011 WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice announced late this week that it has filed a lawsuit against the city of New Berlin, Wis., alleging that the city violated the Fair Housing Act by repeatedly taking action to prevent the construction of an affordable housing development by a private developer, MSP Real Estate Inc.
The complaint, [...]
By News Desk, on June 21st, 2011 Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, June 21, 2011
WASHINGTON – The former chief executive officer (CEO) of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW) was sentenced today to 40 months in prison for his role in a more than $2.9 billion fraud scheme that contributed to the failure of TBW. [...]
By News Desk, on June 18th, 2011 WASHINGTON – A former senior vice president and head of Colonial Bank’s Mortgage Warehouse Lending Division was sentenced today to eight years in prison for her role in a more than $2.9 billion fraud scheme that contributed to the failures of Colonial Bank and Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW). Colonial Bank was one of the [...]
By News Desk, on March 26th, 2011 A real estate investor pleaded guilty this week in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, Calif., to conspiring to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions held in San Joaquin County, Calif., Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, and Benjamin B. Wagner, U.S. Attorney [...]
By News Desk, on February 8th, 2011 The Justice Department today announced a settlement of its lawsuit alleging that Chandi Biswas, Kenneth R. Scott and Frankie L. Roberson violated the Fair Housing Act by making discriminatory statements against African-American renters at Rolling Oaks Apartments in Clanton, Ala. The settlement, in the form of a consent decree, was approved by a federal district [...]
By News Desk, on December 27th, 2010 The Justice Department today announced a $1.25 million agreement with Warren Properties Inc., Warren Village (Mobile) Limited Partnership and Frank R. Warren to settle allegations that the defendants violated the Fair Housing Act by refusing to grant a tenant’s requests for a reasonable accommodation. This settlement is the largest ever obtained by the department in [...]
By News Desk, on December 20th, 2010 The Justice Department today announced that South Dakota property owner TK Properties L.L.C. and one of its principals, Scott Terveen, have agreed to pay $30,000 in monetary damages and civil penalties to settle a Fair Housing Act lawsuit against them. The lawsuit alleges that they discriminated against three families who lived at Lakeport Village Apartments, [...]
By News Desk, on December 18th, 2010 The Justice Department filed a lawsuit yesterday against a Gulfport, Miss., newspaper and a landlord and her agent for violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against families with children.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, charges that Penny Pincher, a weekly want-ad newspaper distributed along [...]
By News Desk, on December 10th, 2010 A former residential sales manager at a Florida property management company pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with housing repair contracts for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Justice announced this week.
Benjamin K. Graves, formerly a residential sales manager at West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC, [...]
By News Desk, on December 9th, 2010
Settlement Provides $2 Million to African-American Borrowers Who Paid Higher Interest Rates
PrimeLending, a national mortgage lender with 168 offices in 32 states at the end of 2009, has agreed to pay $2 million to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against African-American borrowers between 2006 and 2009.
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By Dennis Norman, on November 10th, 2010 Todd M. Gongwer, of Columbus, Ohio, was sentenced today to two years in prison for conspiring with convicted Columbus area home builder Thomas Parenteau to commit a mortgage fraud scheme in which the pair defrauded banks into lending more than $10 million to Gongwer, his nominees and unqualified borrowers, the Justice Department announced today. [...]
By News Desk, on October 24th, 2010 The Justice Department announced this week that a Munster, Ind., condominium association and its three member board of directors have agreed to pay $120,000 to resolve allegations that they refused to approve the sale of a condominium to an African-American couple because of their race and because they had children. The settlement must still be approved [...]
By News Desk, on October 20th, 2010 The Justice Department filed a lawsuit last week against the owner and manager of Royal Arms Apartments, a 26-unit apartment building in Ravenna, Ohio, for violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating on the basis of familial status in the rental of apartments.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District [...]
By News Desk, on October 1st, 2010 A federal district judge in Shreveport, La., has found that Reggie Collier, a Louisiana landowner, violated the Fair Housing Act by interfering with the sale of a home based on the perceived race of the buyer, the Justice Department announced today. The court ordered Collier to pay a $25,000 civil penalty to the United States, [...]
By News Desk, on September 11th, 2010 A Raleigh, N.C., real estate speculator pleaded guilty to conspiring to rig bids for public real estate foreclosure auctions held in multiple counties in eastern North Carolina, the Department of Justice announced today.
Christopher J. Deans pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court in Greenville, N.C., for participating in a conspiracy to rig bids during [...]
By News Desk, on August 11th, 2010 The Justice Department filed a lawsuit yesterday against the owners, developers, architects and civil engineers of Park Place Apartments, a 276-unit complex in Louisville, Ky., for failing to provide accessible features required by the Fair Housing Act.
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By News Desk, on August 7th, 2010 A federal jury in Detroit yesterday returned a $115,000 verdict against an Ypsilanti, Mich., man for sexually harassing female tenants in his capacity as a property manager, the Justice Department announced today. The jury also found the property owner and his company liable for the illegal harassment.
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