(USAO, CT) Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JOHN VESCERA, 60, of Dana Point, Calif., was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to 12 months and one day of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for false advertising and misusing a government seal in connection with the provision of mortgage modification services. According to court…

(USAO ,NY) Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Mark G. Peters, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”), announced today the filing of criminal charges against six defendants for participating in long-running schemes to hide substantial assets and income obtained from significant business and real estate interests in order to attain government benefits designed for…

(Source: dnainfo.com) WILLIAMSBURG — Three Brooklyn couples, including a landlord with properties all over the borough, were arrested Tuesday on charges of defrauding the government of $1.3 million worth of benefits. Shlomo Kubitshuk, 38, and his wife Rachel, 39, Naftali, 40, and Hinda Englander, 41, and Leib, 39, and Devorah Teitelbaum, 36, were accused of lying about their income to the federal government as far back as 2001 in order to…

(Source: USAO, TN) Memphis, TN – A real estate investor has been charged in a 14-count indictment that alleges he defrauded three banks and a mortgage lending business. Edward L. Stanton III, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, announced the indictment today. According to the indictment, Thomas L. Boyd, 43, of Memphis, Tennessee, owned a real estate agency, Wonderful Properties, LLC. Between April 2006 and September 2014, Boyd…

(Source: commercialappeal.com) A Memphis real estate investor has been charged with defrauding three banks and a mortgage lender in a 14-count indictment announced Thursday, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. Thomas Boyd, 43, has been charged with eight counts of bank fraud, two counts of mail fraud and four counts of money laundering. Each count of bank fraud carries a penalty of up to 30 years in federal…

BOSTON – The former assistant property manager of Roxse Homes, a subsidized housing development in Boston, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Boston for his role in a scheme to rent apartments at the housing development to individuals who were not qualified in exchange for cash bribes. Mathis Lemons, 42, of Brockton, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Patti B. Saris to two years in prison, one year of supervised…

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JOHN SANDELLA, 54, of Orange, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to receiving unlawful compensation while serving as an employee of the West Haven Housing Authority. According to court documents and statements made in court, SANDELLA was employed as the Clerk of the Works for the West Haven Housing Authority (“…

Regions Bank (Regions) has agreed to pay $52.4 million to the United States to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly originating and underwriting mortgage loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that did not meet applicable requirements, the Department of Justice announced today.  Regions is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.…

(Source: USAO, CT) Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MEHDI MOAREFIAN, also known as “Michael Miller,” 37, of Irvine, California, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 52 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for participating in an extensive mortgage loan modification scheme.  MOAREFIAN also was ordered to pay…

(Source: Capital Gazette) A federal audit has found that due to poor record-keeping and improper spending, the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis didn't always appropriately spend more than $400,000 in grants designed to help its residents improve their lives. The Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found the housing authority did not maintain documents to support the expenses of $401,859…

(Source: USAO CT) Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that two California residents involved in an extensive mortgage loan modification scheme were sentenced today in Bridgeport federal court.  U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill sentenced SERJ GEUTSSOYAN, also known as “Anthony Kirk,” 34, of Santa Ana, to 52 months of imprisonment, and DANIEL SHIAU, also known as “Scott Decker,” 30, of…

(Source: USAO, VBA) ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Five California men have been sentenced for their roles in a nationwide home loan modification scam that victimized over 400 homeowners and families, resulting in a total loss of over $3.8 million. Roscoe Umali, 38, of Santa Ana, California, was sentenced on August 18 to 220 months in prison for leading the multi-state conspiracy.  Umali was also ordered to forfeit $3.8 million and to make…

(Source: USAO, TN) Wendy Askins, 55, of Red Boiling Springs, Tenn., pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Aleta A. Trauger, to two counts of theft from a federally-funded entity, announced David Rivera, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. At the time of the offenses, Askins was the Executive Director for the Upper Cumberland Development District (UCDD), and also oversaw the daily operations of the Cumberland Regional…

(Source: News Channel 5) COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - A former deputy director at the Upper Cumberland Development District in Cookeville pleaded guilty Monday afternoon to a single count of federal bank fraud. As part of a plea deal with prosecutors, Larry Webb agreed to testify against longtime UCDD executive director Wendy Askins. Webb, who had faced a potential 220 years in federal prison and $6.75 million in fines, avoided any prison sentence under…

(USAO, District of Maine) Portland, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced thatTimothy P. Gallagher, 47, of Jay, Maine, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge Jon D. Levy to a year and a day in prison and three years of supervised release for federal program fraud. He was also ordered to pay $79,639 in restitution. He pled guilty on April 14, 2016. According to court records, between May and November 2014…

(Source: Portland Press Herald) Timothy P. Gallagher, 47, of Jay was sentenced to prison Tuesday on a federal fraud charge by Judge Jon D. Levy in U.S. District Court in Portland. Gallagher pleaded guilty in April to defrauding a company that received funding from programs administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was sentenced to one year and a day in prison and three years…

(Source: theadvertiser.com) Resources available from FEMA are not sufficient to ‘make you whole' again, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Thursday after speaking with Youngsville residents whose homes recently flooded. Edwards, Youngsville Mayor Ken Ritter and other local and state officials toured two Lafayette Parish neighborhoods hit hard by the devastating rain that flooded hundreds of homes starting Aug. 12. Nearly 12 inches of rain fell in three…

(Source: theadvocate.com) Louisiana’s congressional delegation is working on legislation for additional funding to supplement recovery efforts from the historic flooding. U.S. Sen. David Vitter said Thursday he and the other members of the delegation are gathering the facts and figures – number of homes and businesses lost, for instance – that would support a request for billions of extra dollars beyond the federal disaster assistance available…

(USAO, MA) BOSTON – A real estate developer and a former City of Worcester housing official were charged in U.S. District Court in Worcester this week in connection with a $2.3 million fraud scheme relating to the redevelopment of a multi-family property in Worcester. James E. Levin, 57, of Natick, a real estate developer and attorney, and Jacklyn M. Sutcivni, 43, of Dracut, a former employee of the City of Worcester’s Housing Development…

(OAJ, NJ) TRENTON –Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced that nine additional individuals have been charged criminally 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 71 people for allegedly engaging in this type of fraud, including the nine individuals charged today. The Attorney General’s Office is…