6 January 2006

Georgia's Mortgage Fraud Law SB 100
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2005_06/fulltext/sb100.htm

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                                                                                   9 June 2005

NINETEEN INDICTED IN MORTGAGE FRAUD

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney for the Northern District
of Georgia, and James D. Vickery, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue
Service, Criminal Investigation, announce that 19 defendants have been
indicted by a federal grand jury on 21 counts, charging conspiracy, bank
loan fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud, relating to a mortgage fraud scheme
that targeted the "4001 Cascade" subdivision in Fulton County.  The 19
defendants are: MARCUS C. ALCINDOR, a/k/a "Christopher Alcindor," 42, of St.
Lucia; CHRISTOPHER BAKER, 40, of Canada; CARL BEST, 42, of New York City;
CHERYL DENNY, 42, of St. Lucia; JEREMY DERCOLA, 29, of Douglasville,
Georgia;  FRED FARMER, 59, of Roswell, Georgia; MICHAEL FLAKE, 31, of Stone
Mountain, Georgia; WESLEY GOLDEN, 57, of Atlanta, Georgia; RILEY GRAHAM,
a/k/a "Riley Williams," 39, of Detroit, Michigan; WENDELL HIGGS, 42, of
Suwanee, Georgia; PHILLIP E. HILL, 49, of Blounstown, Florida; CORTNEY
JACKSON, 49, of Detroit, Michigan; JAMES MOSS, a/k/a "Dr. James Moss," 49,
of Roswell, Georgia; JULIAN PEREZ, a/k/a "Tony Perez," 49, of Roswell,
Georgia; BRANT PETREE, 23, of Marietta, Georgia; ROBERT POWERS, 45, of
Cumming, Georgia; ANNETTE SPEAR, 50, of Union City, Georgia; DAVID THOMAS,
46, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and DAVID VAN MERSBERGEN, 46, of Atlanta,
Georgia.  According to Nahmias and the indictment:
The indictment alleges that PHILLIP E. HILL was the owner and
operator of "We Build Atlanta, Inc.," "The Estate Firm, Inc.," "Estate
Artistians of Georgia, Inc.," "Estates Atlanta, Inc.," and other Georgia
corporations and controlled the affairs of each such corporation. HILL held
himself out to be a real estate developer, and either individually or
through one or more of the corporations he controlled, purchased and sold
numerous residential properties in the Atlanta area.  HILL allegedly
participated in a scheme to defraud Centrum Financial Services, Inc. related
to a $1.3 million loan granted to the "Alcindor-Williams Group, LLC."  That
loan was to finance the Alcindor-Williams Group's purchase of 27 undeveloped
residential lots in the "4001 Cascade" subdivision from Estates Atlanta,
Inc.  The principals of the Alcindor-Williams Group, LLC were defendants
MARCUS C. ALCINDOR, RILEY GRAHAM and a third unindicted co-conspirator. The
indictment charges that CHRISTOPHER BAKER, JAMES MOSS and JULIAN PEREZ also
participated in the scheme to defraud Centrum. The scheme included
submitting false documents to Centrum during the loan application process,
including inflated appraisals, altered checks, false marketing plans and
making false statements regarding the down payment and investment of the
Alcindor-Williams Group, LLC in the property. 
The indictment also charges conspiracy, bank loan fraud, wire fraud
and mail fraud related to mortgages obtained on the sale of 13 homes in the
4001 Cascade subdivision.  These homes were all owned at one time by one of
the PHILLIP HILL entities. Each home was sold at an inflated price to a
"straw purchaser" who applied for a mortgage loan based upon the inflated
price.  Such a fraudulent transaction is called a mortgage "flip." The straw
purchasers who participated in these mortgage flips were paid a kick-back
out of the excess loan proceeds for the use of their name and credit.  The
victim lenders granted the loans based upon numerous false representations
and documents regarding the credit qualifications of the straw purchaser as
well as false representations that the straw purchaser had paid a down
payment, would reside in the home, and would be responsible for the loan
payment.  Some of the homes were "flipped" more than one time. The
indictment charges that  Atlanta Sky View Living Management, LLC, a Georgia
company operated by defendants JEREMY DERCOLA and JULIAN PEREZ, participated
in these secondary "flips."  The straw purchasers charged in the indictment
include DAVID VAN MERSBERGEN, a HILL business entity employee; ANNETTE
SPEAR; CHERYL DENNY; CARL BEST; and CORTNEY JACKSON.   DAVID THOMAS was
also charged as a recruiter of several of these straw buyers for HILL. In
addition, the indictment charges former Georgia appraisers FRED FARMER and
JULIAN PEREZ, and mortgage brokers MICHAEL FLAKE, WES GOLDEN, WENDELL HIGGS,
JULIAN PEREZ, BRANT PETREE, and ROBERT POWERS based upon their participation
in the scheme to defraud the victim lenders.
United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said, "This indictment is
one more important step forward in the fight to expose and eradicate
mortgage fraud schemes in the Atlanta area. Our investigative agencies
continue to work on the paper and money trails to identify the network of
criminals who are at the core of these multimillion dollar schemes that are
gutting our neighborhoods." 
Members of the public are reminded that the indictment contains only
allegations.  A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be
the government's burden to prove a defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable
doubt at trial.
This case is being investigated by Special Agents of the Internal
Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.
Assistant United States Attorney Barbara Nelan is prosecuting this
case.
For further information please contact David E. Nahmias (pronounced
NAH-me-us), United States Attorney or F. Gentry Shelnutt, Chief, Criminal
Division, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney's
Office, at (404) 581-6016.  The Internet address for the HomePage for the
U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is
www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan <http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan>.

                                                                       15 February 2005

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US Attorney Verdict Announcement

David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia; Gregory Jones, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation; and William G. Creel, Special Agent in Charge of the Southeast Region, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General, announce that a federal jury has returned a verdict of guilty against CHALANA C. MCFARLAND, 35, a former Atlanta area closing attorney now residing in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, after a 12-day trial on multiple charges related to a $20 million mortgage fraud scheme. According to Nahmias: The jury found MCFARLAND, the only defendant in this trial, guilty on all 169 counts submitted to them. In a separate hearing after the verdict was returned, U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. ordered MCFARLAND's bond revoked and ordered her to be immediately incarcerated pending her sentencing hearing. Sentencing for MCFARLAND has been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on May 3, 2005, before Judge Thrash. MCFARLAND was convicted of multiple charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, identity theft, and the use of false social security numbers, related to a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme. MCFARLAND was also convicted of obstruction of justice for failure to produce mortgage closing files to a Federal Grand Jury and submission of false affidavits in an effort to cover up the mortgage fraud scheme, and perjury for testifying falsely in a civil suit filed by a lender. Evidence presented at trial showed that MCFARLAND owned and operated The McFarland Law Firm located first at 4820 Redan Road, and later at 900 North Hairston Road, in Stone Mountain, Georgia. MCFARLAND closed mortgage loans using the names of stolen borrower identities or in the names of straw borrowers who had been paid for the use of their identity, to purchase for herself or assist co-conspirators in making purchases of residential properties primarily in the Mountain Oaks, North Shore, Southland and Waters Edge Subdivisions located in Lithonia and Stone Mountain, Georgia, as well as other residential properties in Douglasville, Elberton, Fairburn, Griffin, and the Atlanta area. Many of the properties were purchased for same-day resale at prices artificially inflated by about $100,000, a fraudulent practice commonly referred to as "flipping." Often MCFARLAND would close both sides of the "flip," using the loan proceeds from the resale to pay for the initial purchase at the lesser amount. The excess amount of the loans so generated was shared by MCFARLAND and her co-conspirators through disbursements to themselves and their shell companies. MCFARLAND caused false and misleading information to be submitted to her clients, the lenders, both before and after the loan closings. Prior to closing she caused misleading title commitments to be submitted to the lender. False HUD1 Settlement Statements reflecting all receipts and disbursements were also submitted for lender approval. On both the draft and final loan settlement statements MCFARLAND caused required borrower down payments to be listed when in fact she had collected no such down payments. MCFARLAND also failed to list actual disbursements to co-conspirators or their shell companies on the settlement statements, and instead caused the lenders to be advised that their loan proceeds had been used to pay the sellers' mortgages and closing costs with any remaining funds to the seller. MCFARLAND failed to verify either the accuracy of the information on the borrowers' loan applications or the identities of the parties who appeared for closings. MCFARLAND and co-conspirators used shell, "air" or other companies to falsify the straw borrowers' income and employment histories and fake leases to account for other properties already placed in their names. As the scheme evolved, no one, except the true seller on flip deals, was required to appear at the MCFARLAND law office to close loans, although MCFARLAND directed her paralegals to notarize and witness the purported signatures of the parties for submission to the lenders. Numerous MCFARLAND co-conspirators have entered guilty pleas to mortgage fraud charges. Those awaiting sentence include: MCFARLAND paralegals BRENDA G. BROWN, 45, of Lithonia, Georgia and LISA R. BELLAMY, 33, of Decatur, Georgia; American Mortgage Exchange (AME) loan processors LATONIA CROMARTIE, 37, of Marietta, Georgia, and MELINDA RENEE TYNER, 33, of Lawrenceville, Georgia; realtors THOMAS CHRISTOPHER DAVIS, SR., 35, of Atlanta, Georgia and JEWEL WILLIAMS, 38, of Atlanta, Georgia, and her husband, SIDNEY WILLIAMS, 39, of Atlanta, Georgia, a former mortgage broker; appraiser BRANDON G. WILHITE, 29, formerly of Jonesboro, Georgia, now living in San Elizario, Texas; borrower/recruiter MELVIN HOWARD QUILLEN, 35, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and identity thief OMAR RASHAD TURRAL, 27, of Lauderhill, Florida. The following MCFARLAND coconspirators, all from the Atlanta area, have already been sentenced: AME Office Manager and mortgage broker RENEE MEEKS, 51; AME Owner CLAUDE BLEVINS, 59; money launderer, recruiter, and fraud property manager LUPIA MCCARTHY, 52; fraud property manager and former mortgage broker GEORGE TOOMER, 65; Smart Choice mortgage broker JAMES PATTERSON, 30; bank employee DEYSHA SIMPSON, 35; and straw borrower CARLA WHITE, 35; they who received sentences ranging from 4 months to up to 5 years in federal prison. United States Attorney David Nahmias said of today's conviction, "This conviction represents another important step in our ongoing effort to attack mortgage fraud that devastates our neighborhoods. Professionals such as closing attorneys who misuse their licenses and skills to commit fraud can and should be sent to prison, like Chalana McFarland. We thank the residents and the neighborhood associations in DeKalb County for their assistance in this case." The case was investigated by Special Agents of the FBI, and HUD-OIG with assistance from the DeKalb County District Attorney's Office, and the Florida A&M University Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Gale McKenzie and Barbara Nelan prosecuted this case. For further information please contact David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney or F. Gentry Shelnutt, Chief, Criminal Division, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney's Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is

 www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan <http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan>.

                                                                          20 November 2004

DeKalb County Asst. District Attorney Jeanne Canavan notified GREFPAC of the pleas and sentencing for defendants involved in mortgage fraud (closed in DeKalb County) at 348 Atlanta Avenue (Fulton County).  The case indicates the commitment of the DeKalb D.A.'s office to do their part, where possible, to combat mortgage fraud.

       Edwin Moffett pled guilty on November 1, 2004 to Theft by Deception. He was sentenced (not as a first offender) to ten years probation, 500 hours of community service, and $30,000.000 restitution.
       Kenyatta James, the mortgage broker in the case, got four years probation, 100 hours of community service, and $7,000.00 restitution.
       The third defendant, Mona Simmons, has not yet been sentenced.  The DeKalb D.A.'s office is recommending prison time for her b/c she is an identity fraudster.

                                                                                 13 May 2004

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan/press/05-13-04.html
 

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