Orange County DA Charges Five In Alleged "Shared Equity" Foreclosure Rescue Scam That Led To Loss Of Homes For 16 Financially Strapped Families

In Orange County, California, the Rancho Santa Margarita Patch reports:

• A Coto de Caza man and a Rancho Santa Margarita woman are among the five people implicated in a real estate scheme in which they allegedly defrauded banks and homebuyers of more than $8 million and cost 16 families their homes.
• William David Robin, 53, and Agida Jamil, 52, will be arraigned next week. Robin will be arraigned April 7 at 8:30 a.m. at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. Jamil will be arraigned April 4.
• Authorities consider Robin the mastermind behind the scheme that began in 2006. He faces a maximum term of 12 years eight months in prison and is currently free on $500,000 bail. Jamil is free on $50,000 bail. Two others, Christopher Allen Taylor, 38, of Riverside and Richard Cadieu, 73, of Laguna Woods, will be arraigned Friday at 9 a.m. Zane Rogers, 49, of Paso Robles, will be arraigned April 7 along with Robin.
• According to the Orange County district attorney's office, Robin—owner of Pacific Vantage in Rancho Santa Margarita—along with Jamil and Taylor in 2006 began advertising and marketing a “shared-equity program” for the purchase of homes in Southern California.
• They are accused of instructing buyers to pay half the mortgage to Pacific Vantage while Pacific Vantage paid the full amount to the mortgage lending institution; after two or three years, the buyer had the option to buy out Pacific Vantage or sell the house and split the profit.
• After making several payments to the lender as part of the “shared-equity program” agreement, the district attorney alleges that Pacific Vantage ceased payment to the lender on all 16 properties in 2007 while the homebuyers continued to send their monthly mortgage payments to Pacific Vantage.
• All 16 homebuyers lost their homes to foreclosure.
• Each of the five defendants is charged with one felony count each of conspiracy to commit grand theft and conspiracy to make false financial statements with sentencing enhancements and allegations for property loss over $3.2 million, property loss over $1.3 million, aggravated white collar crime over $500,000, property loss over $200,000, aggravated white collar crime over $100,000, property loss over $100,000 and property loss over $65,000.

For more, see Scheme Bilked Millions, Cost 16 Families Their Homes (William David Robin of Coto de Caza is accused of masterminding a scheme to defraud banks and steal from homebuyers—all of whom lost their homes to foreclosure).