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. Read More

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 Read More

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Vice President of Porter Drywall and Black Star Drywall, Inc. was sentenced in U.S. District Court to five years of probation and ordered to pay more than $25,000 in restitution to the IRS for filing a false income tax return. As a condition of his probation, Robert E. Read More

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Hammond, IN’s Housing Choice Voucher program based on the activities included in our 2017 annual audit plan and our analysis of risk factors related to the public housing agencies in Region 5’s jurisdiction.  Our audit objective was to determine Read More

We audited the City of Atlanta, GA, and its subrecipient, the Fulton County-City of Atlanta Land Bank Authority.  We began our review of the City’s administration of its Neighborhood Stabilization Programs 1 (NSP1) and 3 (NSP3) grants because it aligns with our goal in the U.S. Department of Read More

We conducted an attestation review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Special Needs Assistance Continuum of Care Program, regarding drug control accounting and associated management assertions for fiscal year 2016.  The objective of our attestation review Read More

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s rulemaking process for its single family note sales program. We initiated the audit due to the large amount of Federal Housing Administration claims paid on note sales and because our office has Read More

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that BRADFORD BARNEYS, 51, of Odenton, Maryland, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 30 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervise release, for conspiring with Read More

NEWARK, N.J. – A former high-ranking employee of the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corp. (NWCDC) was sentenced today to 96 months in prison for accepting $956,948 in kickback payments for his and the former executive director’s assistance in awarding work to contractors, Acting U.S Read More

We audited the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program based on the activities included in our 2016 annual audit plan and our analysis of risk factors related to the public housing agencies in Region 5’s jurisdiction.  Our audit objective was to determine Read More

Enforce the requirement for all HUD web applications and services to be approved and authorized by OCIO. The OIG has determined that the contents of this recommendation would not be appropriate for public disclosure and has therefore limited its distribution to selected officials. Corrective Read More

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Community Planning and Development’s (CPD) risk assessment and monitoring of its State Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) recipients.  We started this assignment due to significant findings reported on the Read More

DALLAS — Tasha Lashaun Wilson, of Dallas, was sentenced last Friday by Chief U.S. District Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn to serve a prison sentence of 12 months and one day for theft of government funds, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas. Wilson pleaded guilty in Read More

PITTSBURGH – A Westmoreland County resident has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of bank fraud and mail fraud, Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song announced today. The five-count indictment, returned on June 27, named Nicolette Gizzi, age 44, of North Huntingdon Read More

(Source: KRGV TV) WESLACO – The Weslaco Housing Authority is under a federal inspection. Federal auditors said the agency spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on unnecessary trips. Federal authorities said they found more than $23,000 used the wrong way. The Office of Inspector General’s audit Read More

We audited the multifamily project-based Section 8 program at the Beverly Place Apartments.  We selected Beverly Place because we received a complaint of potential fraud, suggesting that the complex did not have appropriate controls to ensure tenant and unit eligibility.  Our objective Read More

We received a referral from the Quality Assurance Division of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Philadelphia Homeownership Center concerning a borrower who allegedly made false statements to obtain Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance.  The Read More

We audited the Weslaco Housing Authority, Weslaco, TX, because of issues noted in the Authority’s travel while reviewing its independent public accountant’s audited financial statements.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority complied with Federal, State, and local Read More

BOSTON – A Taunton woman pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston today to concealing information and making false statements in order to receive Social Security disability benefits and Section 8 housing assistance to which she was not entitled.   Marisha Ebanks, 40, pleaded guilty to Read More

CHICAGO — A Chicago businessman has been arraigned on federal fraud charges for his alleged role in a scheme to bilk elderly homeowners out of millions of dollars. MARK STEVEN DIAMOND, a mortgage loan originator with offices in Chicago and Calumet City, engaged in a home repair and loan fraud Read More