Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A former FBI employee and his wife were convicted in a mortgage fraud scheme and now face up to 30 years in prison, the Mercury News reports. The husband, Charles Espinel, 61, also admitted he lied to the agency about his new properties to prevent suspicion. Espinel and his wife, Jeanette 58,…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Federal authorities are investigating Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins in connection with his decision to seek criminal mortgage fraud charges against an oil heir, the Dallas Morning News reports. Questions are swirling about whether Watkins leveled charges against oil heir Al Hill II in 2010 as a favor to political contributors,…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Federal authorities closed two investigations into mortgage deals at Goldman Sachs, the Justice Department announced in a rare statement late Thursday, Reuters reports. Although federal prosecutors are typically loathe to publicize the closing of a case, they issued a statement announcing that no illegal activity was found. “The department and investigative agencies…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A college professor who helped the FBI investigate mortgage fraud cases was indicted Thursday for running a similar scam, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Paul Tomko, an adjunct professor Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio, faces eight counts of fraud and conspiracy and making false statements to his probation officer. Tomko, 39, told…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com Here’s another reminder how the real estate and banking world have suffered as a result of major acts of fraud. In San Diego, charges were unsealed on Tuesday against several real estate agents involved in a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme targeting “vulnerable, low-income immigrants” , according to a statement from the…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com A former Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper pled guilty in a US District Court on Monday to charges of mortgage fraud, bankruptcy fraud and witness tampering, the FBI announced. Benjamin W. Richardson, 46, of Powell, Ohio, plead guilty to the eight-count indictment before US District Judge Gregory L. Frost. Richardson was…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com A former FBI agent has watched his life go from the American dream to the American nightmare, reports the Los Angeles Times. Darin McAllister was a preacher in southern LA before working for the LAPD. From there he moved onto the FBI, working undercover in LA and then Tennessee, the Times…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The feds got their conviction on Tuesday in New York against attorney Louis Cherico for mortgage fraud. But the case was not without embarrassment in what Gang Land News described as “Keystone Kops-like antics by the feds.” Jerry Capeci, editor of Gang Land News, reports that the feds and Cherico “were…
