Cleveland-Area Mortgage Fraud Task Force Bags Five Suspects Accused Of Scam Involving 18 Homes, All Ending Up In Foreclosure; One Victimized By Arson

In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports:

• A Beachwood businessman and four other men were arrested Thursday and indicted in U.S. District Court as part of a wide-ranging mortgage fraud investigation.(1)

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• All 18 homes - 17 in Cleveland and one in Cleveland Heights - wound up in foreclosure after Lesniak stopped making mortgage payments. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives joined the investigation after one of [the] foreclosed homes was destroyed by arson.

For more, see Five indicted in mortgage fraud investigation.

(1) According to the story, Uri Gofman, 36, and Gennadiy Simkhovich, 51, are accused of fraudulently selling 18 Cleveland homes to Strongsville resident Paul Lesniak, 40, in 2005. They used fraudulent loans prepared by Dave Pirichy, 38, a loan officer for Central National Mortgage, and bogus settlement statements prepared by Howard Sieferd Jr., 57, a representative from Family Title Services, according to the indictment.