Falsely Advertised Mortgage Assistance Sentenced to Prison

Owner of California Company that Falsely Advertised Mortgage Assistance Sentenced to Prison

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 documents and statements made in court, VESCERA was the President of First One Lending Corporation (“First One”) in San Juan Capistrano, Calif.  During the peak of the national mortgage crisis, VESCERA and First One offered home mortgage loan modification assistance to homeowners across the United States, including in Connecticut, who were having difficulty repaying their mortgage loans.

From approximately February 2010 until approximately February 2012, VESCERA and First One solicited clients through television advertisements and infomercials produced by National Media Connection of New London, Conn.  These advertisements touted the mortgage modification services of an entity known as the National Mortgage Help Center (“NMHC”).

Matthew Goldreich, of East Lyme, Conn., had incorporated NMHC approximately two months after the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it would partner with financial institutions to reduce struggling homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments through a program called the Home Affordable Modification Program (“HAMP”).  HAMP consisted of a number of incentives to encourage homeowners and financial institutions to modify existing loans on owner-occupied primary residences in order to help keep these properties out of foreclosure.

NMHC advertisements misrepresented NMHC as being affiliated with or regulated by the U.S. government and falsely stated that NMHC “help[ed] thousands of homeowners every day.”  When viewers called the advertised telephone number, they were connected not to NMHC, which operated only as a front and did not provide mortgage modification services for any homeowners, but to clients of National Media Connection, including First One.

VESCERA and First One used NMHC’s name and logo in First One’s promotional materials, application package and other documents.  VESCERA also instructed First One employees to introduce themselves to prospective clients as “with the National Mortgage Help Center.”

First One also misrepresented its status with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”).  First One employees were instructed to inform homeowners that “[w]e’re a HUD approved lender and we represent the government loan modification programs.”  In addition, certain of First One’s forms claimed that the company provided “HUD . . . Housing Counseling assistance” and bore HUD’s seal.  In truth, First One had no affiliation with the government mortgage loan assistance programs and was not licensed or approved by HUD for housing counseling or home mortgage loan modification services.

Through this scheme, 302 victims lost a total of $374,622.  Many of these victims were previously compensated after VESCERA and First One paid approximately $1.5 million to the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America in March 2013 to resolve a federal lawsuit in the Central District of California.  As part of this criminal case, VESCERA paid restitution of $30,320 to 24 of the victims who were not identified at the time the federal lawsuit was settled.

On May 3, 2016, VESCERA pleaded guilty to one count of misuse of a government seal and one count of false advertising.

Goldreich previously pleaded guilty to one count of false advertising.  On November 5, 2015, he was sentenced to two years of probation, including three months of home confinement.  He also was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine and $75,794 in restitution.

This investigation was conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General, and Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Avi Perry and Liam Brennan.

Repost from www.justice.gov

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Irvine man sentenced in $31 million mortgage scam conspiracy case

Dionysius Fiumano also was ordered to pay $11.9 million in forfeiture and restitution by U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan, who presided over a spring trial.

An Irvine man convicted of conspiring to defraud more than 30,000 Americans out of about $31 million was sentenced on Thursday in New York to 16 years in prison by a judge who called his mortgage scheme “callous and heartless.”

DIONYSIUS FIUMANO was a senior manager of the Telemarketing Firm, and was directly responsible for training and overseeing the Firm’s telemarketers and salespeople (the “Sales Staff”).

Dionysius Fiumano also was ordered to pay $11.9 million in forfeiture and restitution by U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan, who presided over a spring trial.

The judge recalled that a Manhattan jury returned its verdict in less than an hour, demonstrating that “proof of guilt was overwhelming.” He said Fiumano and others at a company that operated under multiple names carried out “a callous and heartless mortgage modification scheme” from November 2011 through May 2014, causing more than 60 homeowners to lose their homes.

Fiumano oversaw about 65 telemarketers and managers in his role as general manager of sales at the company, Vortex Financial Management Inc., which also was known as Professional Marketing Group and Professional Legal Network.

Prosecutors said the Irvine-based company persuaded homeowners in dire financial shape that it could modify the terms of their mortgages to make them more affordable. They said Fiumano and his staff fooled thousands of homeowners to pay thousands of dollars in up-front fees for little or no mortgage modification.

The government said Fiumano and his staff routinely lied to homeowners, saying the company would retain a law firm and negotiate aggressively on the homeowners’ behalf with banks to lower the cost of their mortgages.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Imperatore told the judge that homeowners suffered psychological and financial harm that will last some of them the rest of their lives.

“These stories are sad in a way I really can’t capture,” Imperatore said, blaming Fiumano’s crime on greed.

Before the sentence was announced, Fiumano told the judge he meant well when he joined the company because he had lost his own home after the 2008 financial collapse.

“I personally knew all too well the pain,” he said.

Fiumano, who’s 45 years old, said he felt “immeasurable grief and shame that I contributed to the hardship of these families.”

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Fiumano and his co-conspirators claimed to be a lifeline when homeowners needed one most but instead they “preyed on and victimized the desperate homeowners, taking their money and doing nothing to actually help.”

Four other people convicted in the scheme are awaiting sentencing.

Repost from http://www.ocregister.com/articles/fiumano-729217-homeowners-company.html

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14 Years in Prison for Nationwide Foreclosure Rescue Scam

Final Defendant Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Nationwide Foreclosure Rescue Scam

Over $90 Million in Fraudulent Loans and Hundreds of Homes Stolen from Homeowners

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On Wednesday, September 14, 2016, Domonic McCarns, 41, of Irvine, was sentenced to 14 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller for conspiracy to commit mail fraud for his participation in a nationwide foreclosure-rescue scam, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

McCarns is the final defendant to be sentenced for a pair of schemes that lured homeowners with the promise to help them avoid foreclosure and repair their credit. Two indictments were brought in 2008. Four defendants were convicted after two jury trials, 13 defendants pleaded guilty, and now, all 17 defendants have been sentenced. On September 9, 2013, Charles Head was sentenced to 35 years in prison, and on October 29, 2014, his brother and fellow leader in the scheme Jeremy Michael Head was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Acting U.S. Attorney Talbert said: ‘This scheme purposely targeted the financially vulnerable during their time of greatest distress with promises of help. The defendants tricked the victims into handing over their most valuable assets, their homes. Few economic crimes are more reprehensible. This final sentence in this case will bring some measure of justice for their victims.”

“In large fraud schemes like the one devised by Charles Head, we can’t forget about the individual homeowners who comprised the millions of dollars in losses,” said Monica M. Miller, Special Agent in Charge of the Sacramento division of the FBI. “Today’s sentencing ends an investigation that has been ongoing for more than 10 years and brings some closure to the innocent people who were victimized by Head’s callous scheme.”

“Dominic McCarns and his co-conspirators assured innocent homeowners across the country facing foreclosure that they could turnaround their misfortunes and keep their homes,” said Michael T. Batdorf, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation. “However the defendants had other plans which resulted in one of the most harmful mortgage fraud schemes in the country. The sentence handed down today by the court is befitting of this defendant and his actions.”

According to court documents, the defendants solicited homeowners facing foreclosure, and through misrepresentations, fraud, and forgery, substituted straw buyers for the victim homeowners on the titles of properties without the homeowners’ knowledge. These straw buyers were often friends and family members of the defendants, or were solicited on the internet. Once the straw buyers were on title to the homes, the defendants applied for mortgages to extract the maximum available equity from the homes. The defendants then shared the proceeds of the ill-gotten equity and the “rent” that the victim homeowners paid them. Ultimately, the victim homeowners were left with no home, no equity, and with damaged credit ratings.

Initially, the scam focused on distressed homeowners in California before expanding throughout the United States. In the course of the schemes, between January 2004 and June 2006, the defendants obtained over $90 million in fraudulent loans, caused estimated losses of over $50 million, and stole title to over 300 homes.

On December 2, 2013, McCarns was convicted after a five-week trial along with Charles Head, 36, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (formerly of Los Angeles); and Benjamin Budoff, 46, of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Head had been previously convicted in a trial in a nearly four-week trial in May 2013 with his brother Jeremy Michael Head, 34, of Huntington Beach.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Michael D. Anderson and Matthew Morris prosecuted the case.

Fourteen other defendants have been sentenced:

Elham Assadi, 39, of Irvine, sentenced to 5 years’ probation with 6 months of home detention;

Leonard Bernot, 50, of Laguna Hills, sentenced to 18 months in prison;

Akemi Bottari, 36, of Los Angeles, sentenced to 3 years’ probation with 6 months of home detention;

Keith Brotemarkle, 51, of Johnstown, Penn., sentenced to 5 years, 10 months in prison;

Benjamin Budoff, 49, Colorado Springs, Colo. sentenced to 4 years in prison;

Joshua Coffman, 37, of North Hollywood, sentenced to 20 months in prison;

John Corcoran, 61, of Anaheim, sentenced to 4.5 years in prison;

Sarah Mattson, 33, of Phoenix, Ariz., sentenced to 3 years’ probation with 3 months of home detention;

Omar Sandoval, 36, of Rancho Cucamonga, sentenced to 4 years and 10 months in prison;

Xochitl Sandoval, 37, of Rancho Cucamonga, sentenced to 8 months in prison;

Lisa Vang, 31, of Westminster, sentenced to 3 years’ probation;

Andrew Vu, 38, of Santa Ana, sentenced to 6 months in prison with 6 months of home detention;

Justin Wiley, 37, of Irvine, sentenced to 18 months in prison, and

Kou Yang, 40, of Corona, sentenced to 4 years in prison.

This case was part of the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. For more information on the task force, please visit www.StopFraud.gov.

Repost from www.justice.gov 

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Two O.C. men get prison terms for loan modification fraud scheme

SANTA ANA -- Two Orange County men were sentenced Thursday to more than four years in a Connecticut federal prison for their part in a loan modification scheme that bilked about 1,000 victims out of about $3 million.

Serj Geutssoyan, 34, of Santa Ana, was sentenced to 52 months and Daniel Shiau, 30, of Irvine, received a 58-month term, according to federal prosecutors.

The two defendants were part of an alleged scheme in California that targeted Connecticut residents, prosecutors said.

They were salesmen who would cold-call distressed homeowners and offer adjustments to the terms of their home loans.

The victims were charged about $2,500 to $4,300, but didn't receive any assistance with negotiating new terms for their mortgages, prosecutors said.

Repost from http://www.ocregister.com/articles/santa-727724-four-sentenced.html

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