Sacramento Feds: Developer Concealed Existence Of Liens, Used Phony Sales Contracts, Recorded Forged Land Documents In Attempt To Score Financing

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Fresno, California):

• United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced the arrest [] of Aruna Kumari Chopra, 63, of Modesto. A federal grand jury returned an indictment against her on March 15, 2012, charging her with two counts of mail fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft. The indictment was unsealed following her arrest.



• According to the indictment, in 2009, Chopra purchased property [...] in Modesto. She sought to finance the development of the property by trying to convince the City of Modesto to put into place a Communities Funding District that would issue bonds for infrastructure improvements.



• She allegedly concealed from the City of Modesto that there were pre-existing liens on the property. She also allegedly provided the City of Modesto with fictitious contracts of potential sales of a fully developed property to support a higher appraisal of the property.



• The indictment alleges that Chopra attempted to defraud other lenders, including the persons who sold her the property, by filing documents with the Stanislaus County Recorder’s Office that contained forged signatures. She is charged with aggravated identity theft for two instances when she allegedly forged the signature and used the seal of a notary public on a publicly filed document.

For the U.S. Attorney press release, see Modesto Developer Arrested In Mortgage Fraud Scheme.