Tag Archives: scam artists

Real Estate

Wealthy Real Estate Investor Goes on Medicaid to Save Money

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Photo by Ward for News

Talk about trying to save money! A Brooklyn couple who are wealthy real estate investors, with seven bank accounts, including one which may have $2 million in it, canceled their health insurance.  They pretended they were poor so they could qualify for Medicaid. They managed to rack up $59,000 in Medicaid benefits over a four year period.

According to the NYDaily.com

“Ariel Soudry, 31, and his wife, Joyce, 28, live in a million-dollar home and send their children to private school.

They have rental and condominium developments in Brooklyn and New Jersey, an Audi and a Mercedes – and a real bad attitude.

“Lowlifes – get a real job,” Ariel sniped at photographers as he was taken into court to be arraigned on charges that include grand larceny and welfare fraud.

Prosecutors say that while the Soudrys were living royally, they canceled their own health insurance and pretended they were poor so they could qualify for Medicaid.

While the duo was taking taxpayer money, they were buying and selling real estate firms and converting a Brighton Beach condo complex, authorities said.

“Their seven bank accounts swelled to six digits each,” Hynes said. “One even reached $2 million.”

Joyce Soudry wore a gray Boss scarf when she appeared in court with her hubby, who had on a $200 Robert Graham shirt embroidered with the slogan, “Knowledge, wisdom, truth.”

The Midwood couple faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. Both were released without bail.

“We deny all charges,” said their lawyer Solomon Anter. “We can’t wait for the truth to come out.”

Read more: NYDaily.com

Real Estate

Mother of All Mortgage Frauds

mortgage fraud

Oct 14 2009

The “mother of all mortgage frauds” came to an end Friday when an Indianapolis man has pleaded guilty for his lead role in a massive mortgage fraud scheme believed to the largest of its kind ever.

Though Federal law enforcement authorities are still investigating, to date the scheme may have ripped off more than 100 people for as much as $80 million.

Robert A. Penn pleaded guilty to criminal counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.   Penn faces a maximum possible prison sentence of thirty-five years and a maximum possible fine of $750,000.00. He faces sentencing at a later date.

Operating through a number of companies he had formed, Penn signed purchase agreements on a number of properties in Indiana at highly inflated prices. Family members in Martinsville, Va. convinced friends and parishioners of their church to participate in a “no risk” investment to buy the properties, mostly located in the Indianapolis area. They were told there was no financial investment involved; they merely had to allow use of their names and good credit and sign some documents. Most of these straw purchasers were unwitting participants in the scheme.

Robert Penn then completed purchase of the homes he had under agreement in the names of his Virginia investors. He paid the sellers of the homes only the actual market value while recording highly inflated values on the purchase and loan documents. They prepared fraudulent loan applications, containing false statements, including: that the straw purchasers owned bank accounts, stock (in Penns companies) and other assets which they did not own; that the straw purchasers had income which they did not actually have; and that the straw purchasers were making the down payments on the properties from their own funds. In reality, other participants in the schemes actually provided the down payments for the properties, and were paid a fee of $1,000.00 – $3,000.00 for doing so.

Appraisers were employed by Penn and his co-conspirators to prepare appraisals which vastly overstated the values of the properties, in order to support the sales price which was ultimately shown on the closing documents. The false loan applications, appraisals, and other fraudulent documents were then submitted to the lenders. The lenders, relying upon the false statements in the loan packages, issued the loans. The loans were handled through mortgage companies which were apparently either owned or controlled by Penn.  They were funded via wire transfers of money from the lenders to a title company, which the scheme participants used to assist them in preparing false closing documents and issuing title company checks. At the time the loans closed, the properties sold for the fraudulently inflated sales price, and the fraudulently obtained loan proceeds were shared by scheme participants. The sellers were paid the amount they had negotiated to receive, and the co-conspirators shared the excess proceeds.

Source Real Estate Economy Watch

Real Estate

Ex-Cowboy Linebacker Eugene Lockhart Arrested in Mortgage Scam

eugene-lockhart

Former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Eugene “The Hitting Machine” Lockhart was arrested by FBI agents at his Carrollton home Thursday morning after being indicted on mortgage fraud charges, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

Lockhart, 48, and eight others were indicted by a federal grand jury on various charges, including conspiracy, bank fraud and wire fraud. The alleged scheme involved approximately 54 fraudulent residential property loan closings resulting in the funding of $20.5 million in fraudulent loans.

Lockhart, who played for the Cowboys from 1984-90, and co-conspirator Lendell Beacham, 50, of DeSoto, were scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate at 1 p.m. If convicted, they could face up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

The indictment alleges that Lockhart and the others ran a scheme in which they located single-family residences for sale in the Dallas area, including distressed and pre-foreclosure properties, and negotiated a sales price with the seller. They allegedly created surplus loan proceeds by inflating the sales price to an arbitrary amount substantially more than the fair market value of the residence.

The statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office added that the group recruited individuals to submit false financial information and act as “straw purchasers” or “straw borrowers,” promising to pay them a bonus or commission for their participation.

Source: The Dallas Morning News

Business

Mormons Scammed for $50 Million Promising Sale of 20,000 Tons of Gold

Gold_ingots

(Bloomberg) — Henry Jones delivered the good news in a conference call with Tri Energy Inc.’s investors: The gold deal the company had been working on for years was about to pay off.

Jones, 55, a record producer in Marina del Rey, California, and his two partners had raised more than $50 million from 735 investors, which they said they were using to broker the sale to Arab buyers of 20,000 tons of gold owned by a group of Israelis. They promised to triple investors’ money — if only Tri Energy could overcome some last-minute glitches.

All the company needed to close the deal, Jones said on the Dec. 20, 2004, conference call, taped by one of the participants, was a “safe-passage letter” that would cost $450,000. A few days later, on another call, he said Tri Energy had to come up with $100,000 to open a “commission account.” Then, on Jan. 15, 2005, a new request: The bank handling the deal wanted $125,000 to conduct an audit.

Like those caught up in other get-rich scams — from Bernard Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme, which initially snared wealthy Jews, to an alleged $4.4 million fraud aimed at deaf people — Tri Energy’s investors had something in common. Many were Mormons and born-again Christians who shared dreams and prayers on nightly conference calls. They vowed to use the profits for charitable works and kept raising funds, at times taking out second mortgages, draining retirement accounts and recruiting relatives.

While the delays and pleas for more money never stopped, the charade did.

Restraining Order
Continue reading Mormons Scammed for $50 Million Promising Sale of 20,000 Tons of Gold →

Business

Nigerian Letters or “419” Fraud

fishing-for-a-scam

Here is a typical 419 letter: 

From: yarah jane – janeyarah04@———– 

Dearest,

I am Jane yarah the only daughter of late Mr and Mrs william yarah.My father was a very wealthy cocoa merchant in Abidjan , the economic capital of Ivory coast, my father was poisoned to death by his business associates on one of their outings on a business trip . My mother died when I was a baby and since then my father took me so special. Before the death of my father on January 2006 in a private hospital here in Abidjan he secretly called me on his bed side and told me that he has the sum of ten million,five hundred thousand United State Dollars. USD $10.5mleft in fixed / suspense account in one of the prime bank here in Abidjan ,that he used my name as his only daughter for the next of Kin in depositing of the fund. He also explained to me that it was because of this wealth that he was poisoned by his business associates. That I should seek for a foreign partner in a country of my choice where i will transfer this money and use it for investment purpose such as real estate management or hotel management . 

Dear, I am honourably seeking your assistance in the following ways:

1.To provide a good bank account into which this money would be transferred into .

2 To serve as a guardian of this fund since I am only 19years.

3. To make arrangement for me to come over to your country to further my education and to secure a resident permit in your country. Moreover, dear, i am willing to offer you 15% of the total sum as compensation for your effort/ input after the successful transfer of this fund into your nominated account overseas. 

 Furthermore, you indicate your options towards assisting me as I believe that this transaction would be concluded within seven (7) days you signify interest to assist me. Anticipating to hear from you soon.
remain bless,
Yours Faithfully,

Jane.———————————
@—— 

Note that she is promising 15% of $10.5 million or $1.6 million.  All you have to do is trust her and give her your bank account number. While this letter is laughable , there are many people who fall for it and lose thousands of dollars.  Here are safeguards spelled out on the FBI website as to what to watch out for:  

According to the FBI:

Nigerian letter frauds combine the threat of impersonation fraud with a variation of an advance fee scheme in which a letter, mailed from Nigeria, offers the recipient the “opportunity” to share in a percentage of millions of dollars that the author, a self-proclaimed government official, is trying to transfer illegally out of Nigeria. The recipient is encouraged to send information to the author, such as blank letterhead stationery, bank name and account numbers and other identifying information using a facsimile number provided in the letter. Some of these letters have also been received via E-mail through the Internet. The scheme relies on convincing a willing victim, who has demonstrated a “propensity for larceny” by responding to the invitation, to send money to the author of the letter in Nigeria in several installments of increasing amounts for a variety of reasons.

Payment of taxes, bribes to government officials, and legal fees are often described in great detail with the promise that all expenses will be reimbursed as soon as the funds are spirited out of Nigeria. In actuality, the millions of dollars do not exist and the victim eventually ends up with nothing but loss. Once the victim stops sending money, the perpetrators have been known to use the personal information and checks that they received to impersonate the victim, draining bank accounts and credit card balances until the victim’s assets are taken in their entirety. While such an invitation impresses most law-abiding citizens as a laughable hoax, millions of dollars in losses are caused by these schemes annually. Some victims have been lured to Nigeria, where they have been imprisoned against their will, in addition to losing large sums of money. The Nigerian government is not sympathetic to victims of these schemes, since the victim actually conspires to remove funds from Nigeria in a manner that is contrary to Nigerian law. The schemes themselves violate section 419 of the Nigerian criminal code, hence the label “419 fraud.”

 Some Tips to Avoid Nigerian Letter or “419” Fraud:

 If you receive a letter from Nigeria asking you to send personal or banking information, do not reply in any manner. Send the letter to the U.S. Secret Service, your local FBI office, or the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. You can also register a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel.

  • If you know someone who is corresponding in one of these schemes, encourage that person to contact the FBI or the U.S. Secret Service as soon as possible.
  • Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as Nigerian or foreign government officials asking for your help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts.
  • Do not believe the promise of large sums of money for your cooperation.
  • Guard your account information carefully
Real Estate

Foreclosure Crooks Close To Home

 theives

In the continuing fight against scam artists, the Better Business Bureau of Northern California is warning consumers about bogus loan modification companies that make promises about helping borrowers modify their mortgage loans.

You don’t have to look far from home to find one such company, which according to BBB is ShortRefiNow.com located in Roseville, CA. According to BBB, fourteen people have filed complaints with them. The complaints allege that the people paid between $2,600 and $5,300 up front to ShortRefiNow.com to get their loan modified, but the company did not perform or refund their money.

One woman said she gave ShortRefNow.com $3,000 up front to modify her loan based on a recommendation from a friend. She stated that “I kept getting the runaround. They said “I’m not sure who’s taking care of it. The person taking care of it had emergency surgery,” At that point she said “you know when someone is lying.”

After checking with her lender, she found out they had made one call to the lender and asked how do you do a refinance?

According to KCRA 3:

“Another homeowner told KCRA 3 she paid $5,370 to ShortRefiNow.com to modify her loan. She said the company told her not to talk with her lender directly.

She said the company did not secure a loan modification and did not refund her money.
The Department of Real Estate said consumers need to be very careful when deciding to use a loan modification company.

Companies must be licensed with the DRE. Furthermore, in order to collect advance money, brokers must have a specific agreement called an Advance Fee Agreement, approved by the DRE. Brokers may not collect advance fees if a notice of default has been recorded against a property.”

The DRE issued a Desist and Refrain order against ShortRefiNow.com in February, telling them to stop performing any and all acts for which a real estate license is required until such time as they obtain the required license.

The DRE said borrowers should contact their lender directly to try to work out an agreement or work with a nonprofit housing counselor.”