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Department of Justice

A federal grand jury has indicted German Antonio Lopez-Velasquez, Marko Antonio Lopez, and Lisa Marie Santos for bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, utilizing false documents, fictional companies, and fictional individuals to obtain mortgage loans for borrowers who were not qualified to receive loans resulting in over $10 million in at least 30 loans.

Mortgage Professional America--Richard Torne

A whistleblower, former employee for a non-QM firm has condemned the lending practices at his former company, asserting that rules were bent on a regular basis to approve suspect loans.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issue a circular confirming that financial companies may violate federal consumer financial protection law when they fail to safeguard consumer data.

A 72 year old resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, was sentenced on August 4, 2022 for mortgage fraud and sentenced to time served, 5 years of supervised release, $751,900 in restitution, and a mandatory $100 special assessment fee.

The CFPB has taken action against U.S. Bank for illegally accessing its customers’ credit reports and opening checking and savings accounts, credit cards, and lines of credit without customers’ permission and pressured and incentivized its employees to sell multiple products and services to its customers, including imposing sales goals as part of their employees’ job requirements leading to U.S. Bank employees unlawfully accessing customers’ credit reports and sensitive personal data to apply for and open unauthorized accounts.

Mortgage Professional America--Tony Cantu

Three more co-conspirators are in custody on charges related to a multi-layered mortgage fraud, credit repair and government loan fraud scheme, two of which were indicted in January on numerous charges for participating in a conspiracy to defraud mortgage lending businesses, banks, the Small Business Administration, and the Federal Trade Commission, according to the complaint.

Compliance Alliance

Mohamed A. Awad, of Florida, was arrested on July 21, 2022, on charges related to his role in fraudulently obtaining over $1.6 million in federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) payments.

Mortgage Fraud Blog

American Financial Network, Inc has agreed to pay over $1 million to resolve allegations that it inappropriately and fraudulently originated government-backed mortgage loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), a component of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

National Mortgage Professional--Keith Griffin

American Financial Network Inc will pay $1,037,145 to resolve allegations that it improperly and fraudulently originated FHA loans after a complaint was received from a whistleblower that is a former loan processor for the company.

A California man was extradited from Mexico on March 8 and pleaded guilty on June 24, 2022, to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering charges for two high-yield investment fraud schemes.

Mortgage Professional America--Mika Pangilinan

A federal grand jury in Portland has indicted Michael James DeFrees, a real estate developer, with fraudulently obtaining COVID-relief program funds and has been charged with wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering.

Buckley--Buckley Special Alert

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a published decision that the Dodd-Frank Act does not prohibit the enforceability of delegation clauses contained in consumer arbitration agreements “in any way” as it is one of the first appellate decisions in the country concerning Dodd-Frank’s arbitration provision and supports broad enforcement of delegation clauses even where a statute could allegedly prohibit arbitration of the underlying claim.