"Dream Homes" Program A Ponzi Scheme, Say Maryland Feds As Five Charged In Alleged Theft Of $70M+ From 1000+ People; One Def't Positioned To Cop Plea

In Greenbelt, Maryland, The Washington Post reports:

• It was a mortgage fraud and a Ponzi scheme, and it was, prosecutors say, a moneymaker. In just a couple of years, the Dream Homes Program stole at least $70 million from more than 1,000 people, many of them in Prince George's County, by promising to pay off their mortgages in exchange for investments of at least $50,000, prosecutors said.

• After the operators were shut down by the Maryland attorney general in 2007, federal officials began investigating Metro Dream Homes. [Monday], the Justice Department announced that the company's owner and four other people have been charged with participating in a massive fraud.

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• Charged in the case are Andrew Hamilton Williams Jr., 58, of Hollywood, Fla., who was the founder and owner of Metro Dream Homes; Michael Anthony Hickson, 46, of Commack, N.Y., chief financial officer; Isaac Jerome Smith, 46, of Conyers, Ga., president; Alvita Karen Gunn, 31, of Hanover, vice president of operations; and Carole Nelson, 50, of the District, chief financial officer of a related company.

• All of the defendants but Nelson were charged in an indictment unsealed yesterday, accusing them of conspiracy, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and other offenses. Nelson, who is accused of wire fraud, was charged in a criminal information, a court document that can be filed only with the defendant's consent, typically as part of a plea agreement.

For more, see Major Mortgage Fraud Is Alleged (U.S. Charges 5; Many Victims Are From Pr. George's).

See also, The Free Lance Star: FEDS: 'DREAM' IS SCHEME (Federal grand jury indicts four in Dream Homes case):

• Using such names as Metropolitan Grapevine LLC, Metro Dream Homes and POS Dream Homes (known collectively as MDH), they are accused of getting home buyers and homeowners to invest in a program that seemed too good to be true.

For story update, see First Defendant Pleads Guilty in $70 Million “Dream Home” Mortgage Fraud Scheme.

For the indictment, see U.S. v. Williams, et al.

Go here for earlier posts on Metro Dream Homes.