Here is another example of a recent legal case involving mortgage fraud. I try to post case summaries in order to provide timely updates to real estate professionals on important issues.
On June 3, 2009, five people were arrested for their roles in a mortgage fraud scheme in the Washington State that bilked banks and property sellers out of more than $18 million. The arrests came as a result of an extensive investigation by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”).
Humerto A. Reyes-Rodriguez, Alexis Ikilikyan, Micki S. Thompson, Mario Marroquin, and William S. Poff were indicted by a federal grand jury last month on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud (they were arrested on June 3, 2009). The indictment alleges that over a three-year period starting in 2004, they were responsible for 80 fraudulent loan transactions in communities throughout King County and Pierce County, Washington.
Mr. Reyes-Rodriguez and Ms. Ikilikyan were licensed real estate agents and mortgage loan originators. Mr. Poff is Ms. Ikilikyan's ex-husband and was a licensed notary and loan originator. Mr. Thompson was employed by Great American Escrow and acted as the closing officer for many of the fraudulent sales. Mr. Marroquin acted as a straw buyer and oversaw fictitious home repair companies.
According to court documents, the five defendants worked together to obtain financing from banks to purchase homes. At the same time, they convinced innocent home sellers to extend private loans to the buyer of the home to cover a portion of the purchase price.
The sellers did not know that the conspirators had already obtained financing from commercial lenders to cover the full cost of the home. When payments were not made, the properties fell into foreclosure. The homes were then sold for less than the total of all loans secured for the property. The sellers who had extended private loans to the buyers were left with nothing.
The conspirators also used straw buyers to purchase and resell properties and then submitted false information to the banks such as employment, income, citizenship status, assets and liabilities. They submitted bogus appraisals and hired fictitious home repair companies to do repair work on the properties. Proceeds from the home sales would go to the fake companies that had, in fact, done no work.
This case uncovered a group of real estate professionals who manipulated home sales for pure profit while some of the properties went into foreclosure and innocent private citizens were defrauded.
The conspiracy and money laundering charges are punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. An indictment is merely a formal charge by the grand jury. Each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
I will try to keep following this case and post an update when the case is ultimately resolved, hopefully with all of the defendants getting long prison sentences.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice press release (portions of press release used with permission)
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To learn more about a variety of real estate topics, please visit us at www.123ConEd.com. We are the leading online provider of Michigan real estate continuing education. All of our courses are fully approved and properly certified by the State of Michigan, and are offered online.
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The United States Department of Justice provides a link on its website to a national sex offender website, which is known as the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website ("NSOPW"). The NSOPW is coordinated by the Department of Justice and is a cooperation between all 50 states and the federal government. In addition to including sex offender registration information from all 50 states, it also includes registration information from Puerto Rico, Guam, the District of Columbia, and participating Native American tribes. The NSOPW allows users to submit a single national query to obtain information about sex offenders through a number of search options, including by location/zip code or by offender name.
The NSOPW was created in response to the November 2003 murder of Dru Kathrina Sjodin, who was a student of the University of North Dakota. She was kidnapped and killed by a registered sex offender (who was later caught, convicted and sentenced to death).
In addition to providing a comprehensive national database, the website also provides links to the separate sex offender registries of all 50 states (Public Registry Sites). This is a helpful place to quickly locate the sex offender registry of your specific state.
One more great resource for identifying the locations of registered sex offenders is a website called Family Watchdog. It is an excellent site and very comprehensive and user-friendly. This site displays search results on a map of the search location. The map uses color-coded markers to identify the exact location of registered sex offenders in your area. The color-coded map markers allow users to quickly determine whether the offender was convicted of an offense against children, rape, sexual battery, or a different sexual offense. And, if you click on one of the map markers, a separate window opens that shows a picture of the offender and provides a description of the crime.
As a father of two young children, I was terrified to see how many registered sex offenders live in my general area, which is considered a nice, clean, and safe neighborhood. Scary!
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To learn more about a variety of real estate topics, please visit us at www.123ConEd.com. We are a leading online provider of Michigan real estate continuing education. All of our courses are fully approved and properly certified by the State of Michigan, and are offered online.
Copyright © 123 ConEd LLC 2009. All rights reserved.
Under the Fair Housing Act, a resident or an applicant for housing makes a reasonable accommodation request whenever she makes clear to the housing provider that she is requesting an exception, change, or adjustment to a rule, policy, practice, or service because of her disability. She should explain what type of accommodation she is requesting and, if the need for the accommodation is not readily apparent or not known to the provider, explain the relationship between the requested accommodation and her disability.
Similarly, a resident or an applicant for housing makes a reasonable modification request whenever she makes clear to the housing provider that she is requesting permission to make a structural change to the premises because of her disability. She should explain that she has a disability, if not readily apparent or not known to the housing provider, the type of modification she is requesting, and the relationship between the requested modification and her disability.
An applicant or resident is not entitled to receive a reasonable accommodation or modification unless she requests one. However, the Fair Housing Act does not require that a request be made in a particular manner or at a particular time. A person with a disability need not personally make the reasonable accommodation request; the request can be made by a family member or someone else who is acting on her behalf. An individual making a reasonable accommodation or modification request does not need to mention the Act or use the words “reasonable accommodation” or “reasonable modification.” However, the requester must make the request in a manner that a reasonable person would understand to be a request for an exception, change, or adjustment to a rule, policy, practice, or service because of a disability or that a reasonable person would understand to be a request for permission to make a structural change because of a disability.
Although a reasonable accommodation or modification request can be made orally or in writing, it is usually helpful for both the resident and the housing provider if the request is made in writing. This will help prevent misunderstandings regarding what is being requested, or whether the request was made. To facilitate the processing and consideration of the request, residents or prospective residents may wish to check with a housing provider in advance to determine if the provider has a preference regarding the manner in which the request is made. However, housing providers must give appropriate consideration to reasonable accommodation and modification requests even if the requester makes the request orally or does not use the provider’s preferred forms or procedures for making such requests.
Example: A tenant in a large apartment building makes an oral request that she be assigned a mailbox in a location that she can easily access because of a physical disability that limits her ability to reach and bend. The provider would prefer that the tenant make the accommodation request on a pre-printed form, but the tenant fails to complete the form. The provider must consider the reasonable accommodation request even though the tenant would not use the provider’s designated form.
It is important for all real estate professionals to remember that the federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin and disability.
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To learn more about Fair Housing issues (and many other treal estate topics), please visit us at www.123ConEd.com. 123 ConEd LLC (www.123ConEd.com) is a leading online provider of continuing education courses to real estate professionals in Michigan. Our online Michigan real estate con ed courses are fully approved and properly certified by the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth.
Copyright © 123 ConEd LLC 2009. All rights reserved.
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Every real estate professional should already know that the Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to discriminate in housing on the basis of sex. What many real estate professionals do not realize, however, is that that includes sexual harassment.
Courts throughout the country have consistently recognized sexual harassment as a form of discrimination that violates the Fair Housing Act. In order to sustain a claim of sexual harassment under the Fair Housing Act, an individual must show that the sexual conduct was unwelcome. Nonetheless, if an individual submitted to the sexual conduct, that conduct still may have been unwelcome and a claim may be tiled.
Courts recognize two types of sexual harassment: (1) quid pro quo sexual harassment (i.e., when a housing provider, or his/her employee, agent or contractor conditions access to or retention of housing or housing-related services or transactions on a victim's submission to sexual conduct); and (2) hostile environment sexual harassment (i.e., when a housing provider or his/her employee, agent or contractor, or in certain circumstances another tenant, engages in sexual behavior of such severity or pervasiveness that it alters the terms or conditions of tenancy and results in an environment that is intimidating, hostile, offensive, or otherwise significantly less desirable). Claims may be filed even if the alleged victim did not experience the loss of a housing opportunity or some tangible economic loss. Complaints alleging sexual harassment involve one or both types of harassment.
Sexually harassing conduct can be verbal (derogatory remarks, slurs, jokes, intimidation, and even threats of violence), physical (body gestures, whistling, ogling, unwelcome touching or physical violence), or visual (inappropriate sexually-oriented written materials or pictures). Sexual harassment also occurs when a resident’s housing is conditioned on agreeing to sexual favors. For example: A manager demands a date in exchange for a rent reduction. The legal term for this type of harassment is quid pro quo – “this for that.” Again, the treatment is considered harassment if it rises to the level of “severe or pervasive” conduct.
With respect to harassment in the rental context, a property manager has a duty not to engage in sexual harassment. Additionally, property managers have a duty to prevent or stop sexual harassment committed by employees, agents, or contractors and that they may be liable for acts committed by such persons. If a property manager knows or should have known that an employee, agent or contractor is sexually harassing applicants, tenants or residents, he/she has the duty to take action to stop the harassment. For example, if an apartment manager authorizes a maintenance worker to enter a tenant's home to make a repair, and the maintenance worker sexually harasses the tenant, the management company may be held vicariously liable for the maintenance worker's actions. A property manager may be held liable if any of his/her employees, agents, or contractors sexually harass an applicant, resident or tenant.
In recent years, the United States Department of Justice ("DOJ") has been looking more closely at sexual harassment in housing in its Fair Housing enforcement efforts. Women, particularly those who are poor, and with limited housing options, often have little recourse but to tolerate the humiliation and degradation of sexual harassment or risk having their families and themselves removed from their homes. The DOJ's enforcement program is aimed at landlords who create an untenable living environment by demanding sexual favors from tenants or by creating a sexually hostile environment for them. By this, the DOJ is seeking both to obtain relief (usually large monetary fines) for tenants who have been treated unfairly by a landlord because of sex and also deter other potential abusers by making it clear that they cannot continue their conduct without facing repercussions.
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To learn more about fair housing issues (along with a variety of other real estate topics), please visit us at www.123ConEd.com. We are the leading online provider of Michigan real estate continuing education. All of our courses are fully approved and properly certified by the State of Michigan, and are offered online.
Copyright © 123 ConEd LLC 2009. All rights reserved.
123 ConEd LLC is a leading provider of online continuing education real estate courses in Michigan. All of our courses are convenient, economical, fast, and fully approved by the State of Michigan.
123 ConEd LLC (www.123ConEd.com) is a leading online provider of continuing education courses to real estate professionals in Michigan. Our courses are fully approved and properly certified by the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth. All of our online Michigan real estate con ed courses are designed to offer our students the most information, as quickly and economically as possible.
We take pride in the fact that all of our courses are completely our own -- developed by experienced, practicing attorneys/real estate professionals who have the same needs and goals as you. Our courses are also specifically designed for Michigan real estate professionals. That means we do not resell generic courses from national education vendors, as many of our competitors do. From our experience, those "generic" courses -- courses not written specifically for Michigan licensees -- often contain misinformation and irrelevant material because they were written using the laws and regulations of another state (not Michigan).
We started this company because we were motivated to create something better. As attorneys and real estate brokers ourselves, we knew we could provide interesting, accurate courses and present them in a user-friendly way. We also believe that real estate continuing education should be easy as 1-2-3, which is why we offer the ultimate in flexibility. Our courses are online, so your home or office is your classroom. You can start, stop and restart a class at anytime and you can even put together your own package of courses that interest you.
With 123 ConEd LLC, it's all about time management. We know your time is precious. We know you have a busy schedule that makes taking time off for a six hour continuing education class each year a practical hardship. We've got the solution. 123 ConEd LLC is the most time and cost effective way to meet your real estate continuing education needs. With 123 ConEd LLC, you are in control.
Rest easy knowing that 123 ConEd LLC courses are prepared and offered by two extremely qualified licensed attorneys and real estate brokers. 123 ConEd LLC courses are interesting, informative, reliable and cutting-edge!
123 ConEd LLC (www.123ConEd.com) was started by two highly-motivated people, both whom are attorneys and real estate brokers. They use their combined expertise and experience to author all of their own courses, and they ensure that the course material is both accurate and current.
Jason S. Rose is an attorney, real estate broker, and co-owner/instructor of 123 ConEd LLC. He graduated from the University of California, Davis, in 1989, and obtained his law degree magna cum laude from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1993. He is a member in good standing of the State Bar of Michigan and the State Bar of Arizona. Jason has been a licensed Michigan real estate professional since 2006. He is also an approved continuing education instructor by the State of Michigan.
Danielle Gee Gutierrez is an attorney, real estate broker, and co-owner/instructor of 123 ConEd LLC. She graduated magna cum laude from Hillsdale College in Michigan in 1992, and obtained her law degree from University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 1995, graduating at the top of her law school class. She is a member in good standing of the State Bar of Michigan. Danielle has been a licensed Michigan real estate professional since 1990. She is also an approved continuing education instructor by the State of Michigan.
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