Four Face Federal Charges In Alleged Straw Buyer Mortgage Fraud Scheme Designed To Assist Struggling Oklahoma Homebuilder Unload Unsold Inventory

In Muskogee, Oklahoma, Tulsa World reports:

• Four people, one of them a Tulsa firefighter, were arraigned [last] week in federal court in connection with an alleged mortgage conspiracy that defrauded lenders and homeowners. Home builders Gerald Wayne Snow Sr., 68, of Broken Arrow and his son, Gerald Wayne Snow Jr., 40, are charged with wire fraud and criminal forfeiture. The younger Snow, a captain in the Tulsa Fire Department, has been placed on administrative duty until the matter is resolved, a Fire Department official said. Mortgage agents Ayo Dineji Olaniyan, 33, of Joplin, Mo., and Gaile Diana Cates, 37, of Tulsa face the same charges. Olaniyan worked for Key Mortgage Corp. and Cates for Olympia Funding and Gateway Mortgage. All of the defendants pleaded not guilty.

• The defendants allegedly approached potential home buyers to buy homes built by Storybook Homes(1) and C&J Homes, both operated by the Snows. The deal was sweetened when the defendants offered to cover the down payment, closing costs and even to pay off debts or give cash back, the indictment alleges. The scheme involved inflating the buyers’ bank account balances so that lenders would approve loans. The home prices also were inflated on loan documents to secure loans beyond the actual purchase price, records show.

For more, see Tulsa firefighter, three others arraigned in alleged mortgage conspiracy.

(1) According to the story, records show that Storybook Homes is the defendant in numerous foreclosure cases in Wagoner County.