Blog Spot

This just in from  The Mortgage Fraud Blog

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Loan Officer & Agent Arraigned on Mortgage Fraud Charges

Christopher Allen Taylor, 38, Riverside, California, a loan officer, is charged with eight felony counts of grand theft and faces a maximum sentence of 18 years in state prison if convicted. He is out of custody on $100,000 bail.

Richard Cadieu, 73, Laguna Woods, California, a real estate agent, is charged with one felony count of grand theft and faces a maximum sentence of 13 years and four months in state prison if convicted. He is out of custody on his own recognizance. Taylor and Cadieu are both scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow, Friday, April 1, 2011, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-5, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.

Agida Jamil, 52, Rancho Santa Margarita, California, a loan officer, is charged with eight felony counts of grand theft and faces a maximum sentence of 18 years in state prison if convicted. She is out of custody on $50,000 bail. Jamil is scheduled to be arraigned April 4, 2011, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-55.

William David Robin, 53, Coto de Caza, California, owner of Pacific Vantage, faces a maximum sentence of 12 years and eight months in state prison and is out of custody on $500,000 bail.

Zane Rogers, 49, Paso Robles, California, a real estate agent, is charged with one felony count of grand theft and faces a maximum sentence of 13 years and four months in state prison if convicted. He is out of custody on $25,000 bail. Rogers and Robin are scheduled to be arraigned April 7, 2011, at 8:30 a.m. in Department C-5.

A loan officer and a real estate agent will be arraigned for a 5-person conspiracy to defraud homeowners and banks in an $8 million real estate fraud investment scheme involving Pacific Vantage, a real estate and mortgage business in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. All five defendants are charged with one felony count each of conspiracy to commit grand theft and conspiracy to make false financial statements with sentencing enhancements and allegations for property loss over $3.2 million, property loss over $1.3 million, aggravated white collar crime over $500,000, property loss over $200,000, aggravated white collar crime over $100,000, property loss over $100,000, and property loss over $65,000.

The court dates for all five defendants are expected to be consolidated.

Circumstances of the Conspiracy

Robin is accused of being a real estate and mortgage broker as well owning and operating Pacific Vantage. Jamil and Taylor are accused of being loan officers for the business. Cadieu and Roger are accused of being real estate agents who worked for or with Pacific Vantage, and who facilitated at least one fraudulent deal each through Pacific Vantage.

Robin is accused of masterminding the fraudulent scheme. Beginning in 2006, Robin, Jamil, and Taylor are accused of advertising and marketing a "shared equity program" for the purchase of homes in Southern California. They are accused of instructing the buyers to pay half of the mortgage to Pacific Vantage and offering for Pacific Vantage pay the other half. They are accused of fraudulently claiming that Pacific Vantage would pay the full mortgage amount to the mortgage lending institution as a co-owner. After two or three years, the buyer would have the option to buy out Pacific Vantage or sell the house and split the profit.

Jamil and Taylor are accused of completing loan applications for the 16 homes of behalf of buyers and inflating the buyers' incomes in order to qualify for "stated income" mortgage loans, for which the buyers were not financially eligible. Income amounts on "stated income" loans were not verified by the lenders.

Cadieu and Roger are accused of being real estate agents with knowledge of the fraudulent loan scheme. Both defendants are accused of conspiring with Pacific Vantage and acting as the agent on at least one fraudulent mortgage loan-financed home sale each.

After making several payments to the lender as part of the "shared equity program" agreement, the defendants are accused of ceasing to pay the lender on all 16 properties in late 2007. Buyers, who believed Pacific Vantage was paying their mortgage, continued to send half of their mortgage payment every month to Pacific Vantage. The defendants are accused of keeping the money and failing to pay the mortgages. All 16 buyers subsequently lost their homes to foreclosure.

In all, the defendants are accused of defrauding the lender and home-buyers out of over $8 million.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Pete Pierce of the Real Estate and Mortgage Faud Crimes Team is prosecuting this case.

OK, it was a bit long. But multi-county, multi-state (alleged) fraud takes a minute.