The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a civil fraud review of an alleged foreclosure rescue scheme operated by Terrill L. Meisinger of Seal Beach, CA. The alleged scheme involved more than 100 properties in three States that were financed through Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and conventional loans and allegedly defrauded distressed homeowners, renters, and lenders. Based on OIG’s work, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California filed a complaint against Mr.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), conducted a review of Section 8 housing assistance payments made to Lynn Leggins, a landlord, for a tenant with whom he lived. The objective of our review was to determine whether Mr. Leggins received housing assistance payments that he was not eligible to receive. HUD’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program provides rental subsidies through tenant-based vouchers for housing units chosen by the tenant in the private market.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, in conducting a review of CitiMortgage, Inc. CitiMortgage is a direct subsidiary of Citibank, N.A., and Citibank is an indirect subsidiary of Citigroup. CitiMortgage is based in O’Fallon, MO. The review began due to a qui tam filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG) audited HUD’s oversight of its real estate-owned (REO) Management and Marketing (M&M) III program in response to a HUD OIG auditability survey on REO contract administration.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD), Office of Inspector General reviewed the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Preforeclosure Sale Program. Our objective was to determine whether FHA paid claims for only preforeclosure sales that met the criteria for participation in the program. We found that 61 of 80 statistically selected claims from September 1, 2010, through August 31, 2011 did not meet the criteria for participation in the Preforeclosure Sale Program.

We audited loans originated by Bankers Mortgage Group, Woodland Hills, CA, in response to a referral from the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Office of Investigation alleging that Bankers Mortgage Group originated loans with false documentation. Our objective was to determine whether the lender originated FHA-insured loans using sufficient, reliable, and valid documentation. Bankers Mortgage Group did not originate loans using sufficient, reliable, and valid documentation in compliance with HUD requirements.

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) real estate-owned (REO) Management and Marketing (M&M) III program at Innotion Enterprises, Inc., to determine whether Innotion performed property preservation and protection services according to contract requirements. The review was part of our efforts to improve the integrity of the single-family insurance programs.

We audited Weststar Mortgage Corporation, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) nonsupervised direct endorsement lender located in Albuquerque, NM. We selected Weststar for review based on a risk assessment of lenders in New Mexico. Our objective was to determine whether Weststar complied with U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and FHA loan origination requirements for loans on which the borrowers defaulted and FHA paid claims between 2009 and 2011. We found that Weststar violated HUD FHA underwriting requirements for 10 loan originations reviewed.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans. We initiated the audit as part of the activities in our 2011 annual audit plan and strategic plan. Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD had adequate oversight of lenders’ compliance with FHA’s underwriting requirements. HUD generally had adequate oversight of lenders’ compliance in underwriting FHA-insured loans.

We reviewed alleged violations of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan origination requirements by the subject. We concluded that the subject made false statements on a mortgage loan application for one property, and falsely acted as the seller of a second property on behalf of another person. The Department of Justice filed a complaint under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act; and in July 2011 reached a settlement with the subject.