Monday, May 02, 2016

Real Estate Developer Gets 12 Months Prison Time, 12 Months House Arrest For Filing Forged Lien Satisfaction On Existing Mortgage, Followed By $8.9 Million Refinancing Deal

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Fresno, California):
  • United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii sentenced Aruna Kumari Chopra, 66, of Modesto, [] to one year and one day in prison, to be followed by a year of home confinement, for her mail fraud conviction in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

    According to court documents, in 2008, Chopra purchased property on Dale Road in Modesto that she intended to develop into a shopping center to be called “The Plaza at Dale.” She defrauded lenders by filing documents with the Stanislaus County Recorder's Office that contained forged signatures in an attempt to conceal liens on the property from her lenders. The loans made by the defrauded lenders on the property totaled approximately $8.9 million. Chopra pleaded guilty on November 30, 2015.