“I am pleased the prosecution team were able to successfully conclude the criminal proceedings.”

The investigation began in 2008 when London Crime Squad identified a mortgage broker with a lavish lifestyle in a million pound property in Finchley, North London. He owned a Bentley and Land Rover. As a result, Territorial Policing Payback Unit commenced with a proactive financial investigation into the affairs of the broker, subsequently identified to be Olakunle Okubote trading as ‘First Channel’.

The mortgage broker assisted criminals to obtain mortgages providing them with false documents and information. He secured cash discounts on new builds, which he kept, with the knowledge of the conveyancing solicitors, ranging between £10,000-£20,000 on each property.

The lenders and borrowers were unaware, which resulted in the borrower obtaining a mortgage larger than the purchase price. He concealed his activities by transferring funds between bank accounts in various names and identities. The documents were verified by other brokers, believed in an attempt to conceal his involvement.

Okubote received £15,000 after securing a mortgage for Michael Kolawole. That person was identified to have been imprisoned for 18 years in America in the name of Kola Ajibade for Drug Trafficking.

Akin Olojo was arrested by the Territorial Support Group, based in Finchley, in possession of about £2,000 cash.

TSG Payback Unit commenced with financial enquiries into Akin Olojo’s financial affairs and discovered that he had obtained mortgages in two different names, one of which contained false employment and identity documents, brokered by Okubote.

Hertfordshire Police arrested two others in a connected prosecution, who had a mortgage brokered by Ola Okubote.

All of these investigations were joined, and enquiries were undertaken into the mortgage broker’s affairs.

The conveyancers have been independently dealt with by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority.

Olakunle Okubote, Michael Kolawole (aka Kola Ajibade) and Akin Olojo (aka Akin Latunji) were convicted after a five-week trial at Wood Green Crown Court.

Michael Kolawole, 51ys - 13/06/1960, of Winchester Close, SE17 was imprisoned for 12 months. He was ordered to pay £2,000 costs and a confiscation order is ongoing.

Akin Olojo, 28ys - 26/11/1983, of Foyle Road, N17 received a suspended sentence on the 13 January 2012. He was ordered to pay £2,000 costs and a confiscation order is ongoing.

Further civil proceedings are underway to remove all the other available assets from Okubote, whose assets are restrained.

Detective Sergeant Jason Aldridge, in charge of the investigation, said:

“Olakunle Okubote was a confident criminal. I am pleased that the prosecution team were able to successfully conclude the criminal proceedings, under the leadership of Jonathan Wright from Castle Chambers.

“We plan to take away all their available assets through confiscation and civil recovery to ensure that every available asset is taken away from these individuals.”

Robert Coyle, Snr - Coutesy of Philly.comAccording to the Indictment, Coyle, through his business entities, borrowed more than $3 million from East River Bank (“ERB”) and more than $6.6 million from Republic First Bank (“RFB”). Polonia Bank was a 49% participant in the ERB loans after settlement. The purpose of the loans was purportedly to refinance existing loans, make improvements on some of the properties Coyle owned, and/or to allow Coyle to pursue other real estate opportunities. Coyle pledged approximately 71 properties to secure the ERB loans and approximately 117 other properties to secure the RFB loan. The banks anticipated that the loans would be repaid through rental income that Coyle was collecting and, if necessary, through the sale of the collateral properties.

But the indictment alleges that Coyle did not hold good title for all of the properties he pledged since he had entered into various ownership agreements with the then current occupants of several of the properties. In addition, in submissions to the banks prior to settlement of the loans, Coyle allegedly inflated the amount of rent he was collecting on some of the properties and listed vacant properties as occupied. The indictment further alleges that Coyle submitted to the banks forged leases and fake letters to tenants that purported to raise their rent. The alleged fraud on the banks is more than $10 million.

If convicted the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 120 years in prison, five years of supervised release, $4 million in fines, and a $400 special assessment.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Economic and Cyber Crimes Unit of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mary Kay Costello.

Currently there is an active warrant out for outstanding suspect, Marcellous Dunbar (no picture).

Photo’s courtesy of Jacksonville Sheriff and Jacksonville.com (Lee).
The Sheriff’s press conference can be seen below.

A video news report from First Coast News can be seen below.

Anyone with any information about the whereabouts of this outstanding suspect or similar crimes taking place is asked to call the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at 904-630-0500 or email us at JSOCrimeTips@jaxsheriff.org. To remain anonymous and receive a possible reward, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS or email them at rewards@fccrimestoppers.com.

The enterprise existed in two phases. First, acquisitions were made with little or no regard for the condition of each property. In his quest to make a fast profit, Murphy ignored property code violations and payments of taxes at the expense of these communities in Cuyahoga County. Secondly, Murphy sold these properties in bulk or individually for a quick profit to various buyers, essentially in the same manner as these properties were acquired.

The forgeries hid the real identity of Murphy and made it difficult, if not impossible, for communities in Cuyahoga County to make contact with the individual or individuals responsible for the condition and maintenance of the properties. In an attempt to combat repeated housing code violations, Cleveland Municipal Housing Court Judge Raymond Pianka held Murphy and his corporation in contempt of court and levied fines for failure to appear in the amount of $9.5 million dollars. These forgeries aided the defendants in avoiding detection. The Cleveland office ofthe FBI investigated this matter in cooperation with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’sOffice.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason said, “Cuyahoga County has brought to justice an individual who is responsible for causing millions of dollars in damages and ruining whole neighborhoods across Ohio and the Midwest. Today is a triumph of justice over greed.”

The investigation of others who aided and abetted Blaine Murphy (aka BrycePeters, III – aka Martin J. Franks) and Bryce Peters Financial Corporation, Inc. continues.

• The sellers of a property on [997] West Pfeifferhorn Drive in Alpine received $1,340,000 in June 2006 and the transaction closed for $2,205,000.
• The sellers of a property on [6021] Dry Creek Circle in Highland received $1,500,000 in September 2006 and the transaction closed for $2,500,000.
• The sellers of a property on [1747] Sage Hollow Drive in Draper agreed to sell for$1,095,000 on or about September 2006, and the transaction closed for $2,700,000 in April 2007.
• The sellers of a home on [354] Deerfield Drive in Alpine agreed to sell forapproximately $839,000 in January 2007 and the transaction closed in March 2007 for$950,000.
• The sellers of a home on [891] Healy Homestead Circle in Alpine agreed to sell for$900,000 in May 2007 and the transaction closed for $2,300,000 in July 2007.
• The sellers of a home on [381] East Wayne Court in Alpine agreed to sell for approximately $725,000 in late 2007 and the transaction closed for $1,585,000 in December 2007.
• The sellers of a home on [1814] Somerset Ridge Drive in Draper received $1,115,000 in December 2007 and the transaction closed for $2,400,000.

The indictment alleges Portia Louder recruited straw purchasers, including the defendant Chad Louder, as well as others, to submit applications to obtain mortgages on the properties listed in the indictment. These mortgage loan applications were false and fraudulent because, at times, the buyer was a straw buyer not purchasing the property for himself or herself but at the direction of Portia Louder so she could inflate loan proceeds from mortgage lenders; the straw buyer had not made a down payment or invested his or her own funds, transferring all of the financial risk in the purchase and loan transaction to the mortgage lender; the straw buyer was to be paid a kickback from the loan proceeds as an inducement to apply for the loan; the straw buyer had no intention of living in the house or making loan payments; the straw buyer had a materially smaller income than represented on the application; and the loan closing documentation created the false appearance that the straw buyer had made a down payment to purchase the property – among other things.

The indictment includes a notice of intent to seek criminal forfeiture in the amount of $3,900,000 million in currency received and diverted by Portia R. Louder in connection with the conduct alleged in the indictment. Prosecutors are seeking $2,450,000 million in currency received and diverted by Chad Louder and approximately $2,160,000 from Dustin Wilcox.

The potential maximum penalty for false statements to a financial institution is up to 30 years with a potential fine of up to $1 million. Wire fraud carries a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison and money laundering is up to 10 years in prison. Conspiracy carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison. These counts have potential fines of up to $250,000.

Indictments are not findings of guilt. Defendants charged in indictments are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty in court.

The case is being investigated by special agents of the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys in Salt Lake City.

Courtesy of Buffalo News.comAssistant U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross, who handled the case, stated that Macakanja, in her capacity as a housing counselor employed by HomeFront, Inc., inappropriately requested money from clients. The defendant told HomeFront clients that the money would be used toward loan modifications to prevent foreclosure on their homes. However, after receiving the funds, Macakanja used the money for her own personal use, including gambling, and failed to obtain the loan modifications for the victims. A total of 136 HomeFront clients were defrauded with losses totaling approximately $300,000. In addition, Macakanja also obtained federal grant monies from the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency (BURA) for HomeFront clients. On two occasions, she diverted $2,000 worth of BURA money to pay her own personal mortgage.

“Many Americans are struggling to hold on to the American dream, ownership of a home,” said U.S. Attorney Hochul. “The victims turned to the defendant for help in keeping their home. Instead, the defendant abused their trust and stole their money. Unfortunately, because of the defendant’s actions, some of the victims lost their homes. Our office, along with our federal law enforcement partners, will work vigorously to protect federal funding targeted to help those who are struggling. We will also continue to prosecute those, like this defendant, who attempt to take advantage of those who are most vulnerable.”

“Lori Macakanja abused her position and violated the trust of distressed homeowners in the interest of personal gain,” said Cortez Richardson, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General New York Region. “Her actions further jeopardized the assets of the Federal Housing Administration and unnecessarily complicated the lives and financial security of individuals already feeling the adverse impact of a volatile housing crisis. Today’s judicial action signals HUD’s Office of Inspector General’s firm commitment to working with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute any individuals seeking to profit illegally from the nation’s mortgage crisis.”

“Macakanja preyed on the most vulnerable homeowners,” said Christy Romero, Deputy Special Inspector General for SIGTARP. “While an employee of a federally approved housing counselor, she illegally solicited and received payments from 136 homeowners facing foreclosure with the promise that the funds would be used to secure mortgage modifications. Little did the homeowners know, the payments were being used by Macakanja to support her gambling habit and to pay her own mortgage. SIGTARP will aggressively investigate and pursue those who exploit the federal government’s aid to homeowners under TARP and, with the help of its partners in law enforcement, ensure that they are brought to justice.”

SIGTARP investigates fraud, waste, and abuse related to HAMP and all other TARP-funded programs. HAMP encourages loan servicers and investors to modify mortgages to reduce the monthly payments of homeowners who are risk of default. There is no fee to homeowners to apply for a modification under HAMP.

The plea is the result of an investigation by the Mortgage Fraud Task Force of WNY, which includes agents and personnel from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service under the direction of Inspector in Charge Robert Bethel; the Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Cortez Richardson, Special Agent in Charge, New York Region; SIGTARP, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge John Feiter; the United States Secret Service under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Tracy Gast; the Federal Bureau of Investigation under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christopher M. Piehota; and the Internal Revenue Service under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Charles R. Pine. The Mortgage Fraud Task Force of WNY is led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and also includes Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee.

Voss, who served as pastor and president of First Pentecostal Church of Jonesboro, pled guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of willful failure to pay over tax on November 9, 2011. Voss admitted during the plea hearing that from September 2007 until June 26, 2010, he devised a scheme to defraud the First Bank of Owasso. As part of the scheme, Voss applied for a loan from the First Bank of Owasso, pledging as collateral the Jonesboro Worship Center real estate. Voss then failed to obtain appropriate board of directors’ authorization to so encumber the church real estate. Voss used the funds to retire previous unauthorized loans for his own personal use, and to obtain additional funds for expenditures not approved by the board of directors of the Jonesboro Worship Center.

Additionally, Voss admitted that from 2006 through 2010, First Pentecostal Church of Jonesboro withheld tax payments from its employees’ paychecks. However, through this same period, the church failed to make any payments to IRS of these withholdings. Voss was the person responsible for the collection and pay over of the church’s payroll taxes. This investigation was conducted by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation.

In the following press release from the FBI Field Office in Miami Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; and Tom Grady, Commissioner, State of Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation, announced the sentencing of defendant Marlon Baugh, 32, of Pembroke Pines, Florida. On Friday, January 27, 2012, U.S. District Judge James Cohn sentenced Baugh to one year and one day in prison for mail fraud in connection with his participation in a mortgage fraud scheme. The defendant previously had pled guilty to one count of mail fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341.

According to information presented in court, defendant Baugh was a mortgage broker licensed by the State of Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation. Baugh was a partner at National Foreclosure Center, which was in the business of completing loan modifications for homes that were in foreclosure or about to go into foreclosure. Baugh and others engaged in a scheme to enrich themselves by fraudulently causing real estate to be bought and sold through straw buyers. Baugh and others falsified the Uniform Residential Loan Applications that were submitted on behalf of the straw buyers in order to fraudulently qualify the straw buyers for mortgages. Baugh also submitted false employment verification letters to support the false information on the loan application.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI and Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Laurence Bardfeld.

Levitt’s guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha; Cortez Richardson, Special Agent in Charge of the HUD Office of Inspector General; Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Field Office; and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.

At today’s change of plea hearing, Levitt admitted to the court that between July 2006 and November 2007 he applied for and received, based on fraudulent information, three mortgages totaling more than $1.1 million for two properties in Providence and one in East Providence. He used two of the mortgages to buy the Providence properties from an acquaintance that was experiencing financial problems and was facing foreclosure on the properties. Levitt admitted that he offered to assist his acquaintance by purporting to obtain a buyer for the properties who was qualified to obtain financing to purchase the properties.

In order to finance the purchases, Levitt admitted that he induced a business associate to apply for the mortgages by representing to him that they would be partners, would refurbish the properties as condominiums and sell them at a profit. Levitt admitted that the mortgage applications and settlement statements contained false information; including failing to identify the true purchaser of the property and falsely stating that the buyer was putting a down payment in excess of $100,000 for each property.

Levitt admitted to the court that he conducted the closings on the properties despite his financial interest and despite the fact that he was a disbarred attorney. After the closings, Levitt obtained and deposited the majority of the proceeds of the sale of the properties, approximately $270,000, into bank accounts which he controlled. He provided $25,000 of the proceeds to the seller of the properties shortly after the closing, and he later made periodic payments. However, Levitt admitted that he used the majority of the proceeds for his business and for personal expenses. The two properties eventually went into foreclosure.

Levitt admitted to the court that he used the third mortgage to buy a property from another company he controlled. He applied for the mortgage in his own name. The application also contained false statements and omissions, including an affirmation by Levitt that there were no outstanding judgments against him when, as he admitted to the court, he knew that there was an outstanding judgment against him of approximately $432,728 by the State of Rhode Island, which represented restitution owed to the State on a prior criminal conviction.

Levitt also admitted to the court that he failed to disclose to the Internal Revenue Service in tax filings in October 2007 and October 2008 derived income from the ventures as well as from other sources.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Luis M. Matos.

The matter was investigated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation.

Louis Gendason, 42, of Delray Beach, Fla., was sentenced to 70 months in prison, five years of supervised release and ordered to pay over $2 million in restitution. Gendason was the mastermind of this complicated reverse mortgage fraud scheme, which was designed to lure financially distressed elderly homeowners into applying for reverse mortgage loans, to create fictitious equity in their homes with fraudulent appraisals, and ultimately to steal that false equity from the seniors and their lenders. Gendason cultivated relationships with each of his co-conspirators and they executed their respective roles in the scheme at his behest.

Kimberly Mackey, 47, of Pittsburgh, and Marcos Echevarria, 29, of Palm Beach, Fla., received prison sentences of 60 and 24 months, respectively, on Nov. 3, 2011. A third co-defendant, John Incandela, 25, of Palm Beach, was sentenced to 41 months in prison on Dec. 16, 2011. Gendason was the final defendant in the scheme to be sentenced.

“This reverse mortgage loan modification scheme robbed elderly homeowners of more than just their homes,” said Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. “It also robbed them of the American dream of home ownership, their peace of mind, and in some cases, their life’s savings. Through these prosecutions, these fraudsters have been brought to justice.”

“The stiff sentence the court imposed on the leader of this reverse mortgage fraud scheme sounds a cautionary note to those who prey upon elderly, distressed homeowners,” said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. “We will not waver in our commitment to investigate, prosecute, and hold accountable those who try to victimize our nation’s most vulnerable consumers.”

A reverse mortgage, also known as a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, allows borrowers who are at least 62 years of age to convert the equity in their homes into a monthly stream of income or a line of credit. Unlike the traditional mortgage loan scenario, in which borrowers make monthly payments to a mortgage lender in satisfaction of their outstanding loan, in a reverse mortgage loan scenario, the mortgage lender purchases borrowers’ equity and makes installment payments to the borrower.

According to the information and statements made during the August 2011 hearing in the case, from May 2009 through November 2010, the defendants engaged in a reverse mortgage scheme that defrauded unwitting borrowers, Genworth Financial Home Equity Access Inc., and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). As the scheme’s ring-leader, Gendason, along with loan officers Incandela and Echevarria, solicited seniors to refinance their existing mortgages with a reverse mortgage loan financed by Genworth. To qualify the borrowers for these loans, Gendason altered real estate appraisals to fraudulently inflate the value of the borrowers’ properties. In fact, however, none of the borrowers had sufficient equity in their properties to qualify for a reverse mortgage. The defendants then submitted the fraudulently inflated appraisals to Genworth. Based on the false documentation, Genworth approved and the FHA insured more than $2.5 million in reverse mortgage loans.

As part of the scheme, Mackey, a licensed title agent, fraudulently closed the Genworth loans and did not pay off the borrowers’ existing mortgage loans. Mackey attempted to conceal the fraudulent loan closings by preparing false settlement documents that showed that the existing mortgages had, in fact, been paid off. The defendants divided up the loan proceeds and each used the money for his or her personal benefit, including for such things as gym memberships, vacations, and casino gambling.

The defendants further engaged in a loan modification scheme to conceal the existence of the Genworth reverse mortgage transactions from the original mortgage lenders, whose loans remained unpaid. To this end, Gendason, Incandela and Mackey conspired to create fictitious offers to buy some of the borrowers’ properties in the form of “short sales.” A short sale is a sale of real estate in which the sale proceeds are less than the balance owed on the loan to the mortgage lender, but avoids foreclosure and related costs. In other instances, to hide the existence of the Genworth reverse mortgage loan from the original lenders, the defendants made monthly mortgage payments to the borrowers’ original lenders. Many of the elderly homeowners that trusted the defendants anguished for years over whether they might lose their homes after learning that the defendants had stolen their reverse mortgage loan proceeds.

The case was investigated by agents from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service’s-Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the FBI and Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation, with assistance from the U.S. Secret Service and Genworth Financial Home Equity Access. The case was prosecuted by Kevin J. Larsen, a Trial Attorney in the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey H. Kay and Thomas Lanigan of the Southern District of Florida.

Sweeten stole funds from family members, from the law office where she had been employed, and from the law firm’s clients. She used the identity of another person and posed as another person while using false identification and forging signatures on various documents including a property settlement.

Additionally, Sweeten stole the identity of a friend and fellow employee and used the identity to facilitate her flight from the jurisdiction. She also forged a signature of a judge on a court order for the purpose of fraudulently withdrawing client funds from a bank. As part of her scheme to defraud, Sweeten concocted an elaborate hoax that she and her daughter had been kidnapped in order to deceive family members and law enforcement as to her whereabouts.

The case was jointly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bucks County District Attorney’s Detectives. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Denise S. Wolf.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after Chief United States District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith imposed the sentence. Harps previously pled guilty on August 23, 2011.

According to court documents, during 2006 Harps owned and operated the now defunct Hampton Roads businesses, New Beginnings Group, LLC, and IMAK Group, LLC, which specialized in “foreclosure rescue.” Through these businesses, Harps and others solicited homeowners in financial distress and facing foreclosure, to agree to sell their homes to Harps or straw buyers working with her. Harps promised the homeowners that, during a one year period after the sale, they could remain in their homes without having to pay the mortgage, while simultaneously putting their financial affairs back in order, so that they could buy back their homes at the end of the year. This, however, failed to occur. Instead, court records show that Harps and her straw buyers made assorted false statements to fraudulently obtain mortgage loans, upon which they later defaulted. As a result, foreclosures soon followed and the homeowners lost both their homes and substantial sums of homeowner equity, which was siphoned out of the closing transactions and paid to Harps’ businesses.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Robert J. Krask is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.uspci.uscourts.gov.

A federal grand jury returned a superseding Criminal Indictment on February 2, 2011. On April 21, 2011, a jury convicted JONES of all counts of the indictment, which included one count of conspiring to commit bank fraud and to make false statement to influence a bank on a loan, 15 counts of bank fraud, and two counts of making false statements to influence bank loans.

In determining JONES’ sentencing guidelines range, the court found that he had received more than $1 million in gross receipts from financial institutions as a result of the offense. It found that the defendant was the leader of a criminal activity that involved five or more participants or was otherwise extensive. It found that the defendant abused a position of private trust through his interactions with unsophisticated investors. It also found that he obstructed justice through perjurious testimony at his trial.

At trial the government’s evidence showed that between 2002 and 2004, JONES participated in a scheme to defraud Omni National Bank and other banks. JONES used the credit of straw purchasers to obtain loans from Omni National bank in the name of those individuals. He then used that loan money to purchase properties through his company, University of Hard Knocks Investments, Inc., and then immediately resell them to the straw purchasers, whom he referred to as investors. Six straw purchasers testified at trial. David Pikul, the closing attorney who handled these transactions, also testified at trial. On April 11, 2011, Pikul pled guilty to conspiring with JONES to commit bank fraud and to make false statements to an FDIC insured bank. JONES enticed the straw purchasers to participate by promising them that he would make mortgage payments on the properties, take care of repairs, and sell the properties at a profit. These promises were untrue and fraudulent.

Further evidence showed that to obtain loans from Omni and other banks, JONES made numerous false statements on the HUD settlement forms that were submitted to the banks. These forms hid the fact that the bank’s money was being used by JONES’ company to purchase the property. They also often falsely stated that a down payment was being made, when, in fact, there was none. Sometimes the HUD forms falsely stated the seller of the property. As part of this scheme, on at least four occasions, JONES sold the same property to the same straw purchaser a second time for a higher price. In addition, JONES was living in one of the properties he had sold to one of the straw purchasers. He was doing this without her knowledge and without paying any rent or mortgage. This straw purchaser ultimately had to evict him.

JONES, testifying at trial, admitted he had 10 years of experience in the mortgage and real estate industry at the time of the crime. He also admitted receiving and signing many of the false HUDs–knowing they were false. He claimed that the closing attorney, David Pikul, had come up with this idea and had told him that it was a correct way of doing things. He admitted receiving a lot of money through University of Hard Knocks Investments and using that money, considered by him to be his business “profits,” to take several gambling trips to Las Vegas, Atlantic City, South Carolina, and New Orleans.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation participated in this investigation. David A. Bragdon and William M. Gilmore represented the United States.