Tampa mortgage fraudster heads to the big house

"Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that a
former vice president of a subsidiary of one of the nation’s largest
subprime lenders has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for his
involvement in a mortgage fraud scheme that spanned more than two years
and involved loans in Hillsborough, Lee, Pinellas and Polk counties.

Orson Benn, former vice president of Argent Mortgage Company, was part of an
elaborate mortgage fraud scheme that involved co-defendant Scott Almeida
and multiple co-defendants. The three-year investigation began when victims filed complaints about
incomplete or substandard construction work being performed by
construction companies affiliated with Almeida. Almeida and his associates
secured mortgages for homeowners to finance the home repair projects by
submitting fraudulent documents to Argent Mortgage Company.

Benn, as vice president of Argent, approved or oversaw the approval of the fraudulent
loan applications. Investigators followed the trail of fraudulent
applications back to the organized criminal operation which submitted
nearly 130 loans to Argent that were funded for approximately $13 million.

After the initial investigation of Benn’s activities, the investigation
was expanded to include additional targets that were actively engaged in
fraud with Benn. Benn was ultimately charged with racketeering, conspiracy
to commit racketeering, and grand theft and must serve 12 years of
probation after his prison sentence has been completed. Co-defendants
Frank Giffone and Adrienne White have pleaded guilty to similar charges
and will be sentenced later.  Co-defendant Bradford Peck pleaded
guilty and has already been sentenced to eight years in prison. Samuel
Green, a fourth co-defendant, was convicted by a jury in August and will
be sentenced in October. Almeida pleaded guilty in October 2007 and will
serve 10 years in prison."

Comments

[Steve Simon]

This is a significant prosecution.
The result will (and should) send a signal to those who decide "to charge" or not...
This was unabashed fraud to be sure, but there were scams worse than this. There were hundreds of "Air Loans" they didn't even have a property attached to them, just a fraudulent file!
USPAP (regs for appraisers) demand such attention to detail that there is no way 50% of the (garbage) loans that were made over the last decade should have happened...

The folks you posted about were an extreme example of what was bad.

There were other types of fraud that may not have reached the same criminal level, but they have harmed the public just the same.

Things like, "the certified appraiser signing off that they visited the property when they had not", the appraisal grunt work done by the registered trainee, are much more common.
The above may not be an out and out criminal scam, but the negative result and the harm it caused is very real. There are thousands of these all over the country. The problem is very few governments have allocated the resources to prosecute these people. That is a recipe for another "Problem Pie".
Just my thoughts :)

[Fuzzy Bear]

The problem is very few governments have allocated the resources to prosecute these people.

Steve, I agree with what you mentioned. The government entities must make this a priority to fund these investigations. Many of these entities I have talked to are strained by the lack of resources, but are moving forward with the investigations.

Failure to provide the funding will only add fuel to the fire and invite more criminal activity to the state of Florida!

[John Bill]

Realy it is very useful post , Accept my sincere thanks and appreciation

John Bill

--------------
http://www.dirking.net

Jobs , companies , real estate , engineers , petroleum company