Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Philly Feds Indict Pair Who Allegedly Fleeced Over 110 Victims Out Of More Than $400K Peddling Phony Home Loan Modification Services

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania):
  • An indictment, [...], charges two friends, Daniel Sheehan, 41, of Gloucester City, NJ, and John Hoban, 42, of Bellmawr, NJ, in a scheme to defraud distressed homeowners seeking help out of more than $400,000, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger. The pair is charged with wire fraud conspiracy and eight counts of wire fraud. Sheehan is additionally charged with 18 wire fraud counts and one count of interstate transport of stolen property. As a result of the alleged scheme, more than 110 people were defrauded, several of whom lost their homes.

    According to the indictment, between September 2012 and February 2015, Sheehan, a mortgage modification professional, represented to a dozen clients that he could help them modify their mortgages through the Home Affordable Mortgage Program (“HAMP”) or the Home Affordable Refinance Program (“HARP”).

    Instead, it is alleged, Sheehan: took fees from his clients without ever submitting the loan modification paperwork he promised; deceived his clients by representing to them that he had secured a new mortgage for them; directed many of his clients to make their mortgage payments to him until their new loan paper work arrived; had Hoban pretend to be a bank representative to lull the client into a false sense of security; and used his clients’ mortgage payments for his own purposes rather than that for which those payments were intended.

    Several of Sheehan’s clients’ homes went into foreclosure and at least two went to Sheriff’s sale.