Monday, January 21, 2013

Baltimore Feds Indict Six In Alleged Straw Buyer Scam Designed To Generate Cash Proceeds That Were Subsequently Pocketed While Leaving Existing Mortgages Unpaid

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Baltimore, Maryland):
  • A federal grand jury has indicted six defendants for conspiracy in a $4.5 million mortgage fraud scheme: [...](1)
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  • The indictment alleges that Kreamer worked at Sanford Title Services LLC located at 8900 Snowden River Parkway, Columbia, Maryland. In 2002, her Maryland license to issue title insurance policies was revoked.

    From June 2008 to January 2010, Kreamer, Williams, Scott, Udeze and Peete allegedly arranged for individuals, including Green, to buy and sell real estate so they could improperly obtain money from the transactions.

    Kreamer, Williams, Scott, Udeze and Peete are alleged to have created multiple versions of settlement statements to deceive lenders, lien holders, buyers and sellers; and arranged for proceeds from mortgage transactions to be disbursed to shell companies created by the defendants in order to disguise that the money was really for their benefit.

    Kreamer and Sanford Title failed to make required disbursements of settlement funds to pre-existing lien holders, funneling the money instead to themselves.
For the U.S. Attorney press release, see Six Defendants Indicted in $4.5 Million Mortgage Fraud Scheme (Defendants Used Sanford Title Services and Shell Companies to Fraudulently Disburse Settlement Proceeds to Themselves).

(1) Bonnie Kathleen Kreamer, a/k/a “Bonnie Meehan,” age 47, of Riva, Maryland; Niesha Williams, age 33, of Fort Washington, Maryland; Rhonda Scott, age 51, of Oxon Hill, Maryland; Emeka Udeze, age 37, of Bowie, Maryland; Demetrius Peete, age 45, of Manassas, Virginia; and Gregory Green, age 49, of Waldorf, Maryland.