Jason Rose

Here is another example of a recent legal case involving a fraudulent real estate scheme committed by a real estate agent. I try to post case summaries in order to provide timely updates to real estate professionals on important issues.

On May 11, 2009, John A. Yanchek was sentenced to 60 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $7.6 million for conspiracy to commit loan fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering.

According to court documents, Mr. Yanchek was a licensed Florida attorney who did business as the law firm of John A. Yanchek, P.A., in Sarasota, Florida. Mr. Yanchek represented G & T Land Development LLC and Steeplechase Properties LLC, legal entities owned and/or controlled by his co-conspirators, that purchased and developed commercial real estate in the Sarasota area. Mr. Yanchek also functioned as a closing agent.

According to the plea agreement, Mr. Yanchek entered into a conspiracy to make false statements to federally-insured banks in connection with applications for commercial loans used to purchase vacant land for development. The object of the conspiracy was to obtain enough loan money to allow the conspirators to purchase the property without contributing any equity of their own and to receive excess loan proceeds for their personal use. Mr. Yanchek, as the closing attorney for the loans, made false statements to the banks regarding: (1) the financial resources of the borrower, (2) the amount and source of equity contributed by the borrower, (3) compliance with the seller's obligation to provide marketable title to the property, and (4) distribution of the loan proceeds.

Co-defendant Larry P. Nardelli was convicted on February 19, 2009, and is awaiting sentencing. Michael A. Tringali pleaded guilty and received a 41 month prison sentence. The third co-defendant Neil M. Husani remains a fugitive.

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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.

Copyright © 123 ConEd LLC 2009. All rights reserved.

Here is another example of a recent legal case involving a fraudulent real estate scheme committed by a real estate agent. I try to post case summaries in order to provide timely updates to real estate professionals on important issues.

On May 11, 2009, Oladipo Olafunmiloye, a real estate agent, was sentenced to 46 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for bank fraud and money laundering in connection with a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders. At the sentencing, the judge found that Mr. Olafunmiloye’s fraudulent scheme incurred losses of $3 million and ordered him to pay restitution in that amount, as well as forfeit his interest in a Rolls Royce automobile and funds held in four bank accounts.

According to his plea agreement, Mr. Olafunmiloye owned a real estate company known as LAFA. From November 2004 to December 2006, Mr. Olafunmiloye organized a scheme in which co-defendants Sidney Okosun, Oyekunle Ikudayisi, Kolawole Aminu and others sought to fraudulently obtain mortgages and refinance loans to purchase properties for sale in Maryland and the District of Columbia that were owned by Mr. Olafunmiloye or LAFA. The defendants recruited individuals to act as purchasers who became owners of the properties in name only and made almost none of the payments related to the purchase of the properties, including down payments, closing costs and mortgage payments

Mr. Olafunmiloye supervised the submission of false statements on loan applications as to the straw buyers’ incomes and their intent to make the properties their primary residences, in order to induce mortgage lenders to make loans at more favorable rates. Mr. Olafunmiloye also provided capital to the other defendants in order to perpetuate the scheme. Once the purchase of the properties had been funded, Mr. Olafunmiloye defaulted on mortgage payments, which forced the lenders to foreclose, thereby incurring losses.

During the course of the scheme, Mr. Olafunmiloye also provided false information to obtain loans in his own name, including loans on five properties, all of which went into foreclosure, resulting in losses to the mortgage lenders of over $492,767. Finally, Mr. Olafunmiloye laundered money obtained from the fraud scheme, including 12 transactions from August 2005 to September 2006 totaling $308,311.

It’s amazing what some people will do to make money.

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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.

Copyright © 123 ConEd LLC 2009. All rights reserved.

Here is a little reminder for everyone about their obligations under the Fair Housing act with respect to people with disabilities. The following are a few examples of illegal housing practices against persons with disabilities under the Fair Housing Act:

• Refusing to rent or sell or otherwise making unavailable to an individual with a disability a dwelling unit, because of the buyer’s or renter’s disability;

• Imposing different terms and conditions on the sale or rental of a dwelling unit due to the buyer’s or renter’s disability;

• Coercing, intimidating or threatening a person for exercising his or her rights under the Fair Housing Act;

• Informing an individual with a disability that a dwelling was not available for inspection, when in fact the dwelling was available;

• Discriminating against any person who associates with a person with a disability in the sale or rental of a covered dwelling unit;

• Blockbusting – that is paying someone to rent or sell a dwelling unit to another person, so as to prevent an individual with a disability from moving into a neighborhood;

• Refusing to make reasonable accommodations of rules, policies, practices or services that are needed to accommodate an individual with a disability;

• Refusing to allow a tenant with a disability to undertake reasonable structural modifications to an existing building which may be necessary to accommodate that person’s disability;

• Engaging in any real estate-related transaction that promotes discrimination against an individual with a disability;

• Denying a person with a disability access to a multiple listing service, real estate broker’s organization or other related service based upon his or her disability;

• Asking a prospective tenant/home-buyer about his or her disability;

• Requiring tenants or others living in housing to be able to “live independently”;

• Requiring a person with a disability to pay a higher security deposit than that requested from a tenant without a disability;

• Publishing an advertisement, notice or statement which limits or excludes individuals with disabilities from renting or purchasing a dwelling;

• Denying housing due to a present or past history of a mental illness;

• Asking a prospective tenant about illegal drug use or illegal drug convictions unless those questions are asked of all prospective tenants.

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 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.

The goal of the Fair Housing Act is to ensure “no person shall be subjected to discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin in the sale, rental or advertising of dwellings, in the provision of brokerage services, or in the availability of residential real-estate related transactions.” With respect to people with disabilities, the Act serves to:

• Give people with disabilities opportunities to choose where they want to live;

• Assure that reasonable accommodations and reasonable modifications are made so that a person with a disability can secure and use housing as fully as a person without a disability.

• Assure that persons with disabilities are able to live free from intimidation and harassment; and

• Require that multi-family housing built for first occupancy after March 13, 1991, has certain accessible features (e.g., a usable kitchen for a person who uses a wheelchair).

The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing providers from discriminating against applicants or residents because of their disability or the disability of anyone associated with them and from treating persons with disabilities less favorably than others because of their disability. The Act also prohibits housing providers from refusing residency to persons with disabilities, or, with some narrow exceptions, placing conditions on their residency, because those persons may require reasonable modifications or reasonable accommodations.

With respect to reasonable accommodations and reasonable modifications:

• The Act makes it unlawful for any person to refuse “to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford . . . person(s) [with disabilities] equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.”

• The Act makes it unlawful for any person to refuse “to permit, at the expense of the [disabled] person, reasonable modifications of existing premises occupied or to be occupied by such person if such modifications may be necessary to afford such person full enjoyment of the premises, except that, in the case of a rental, the landlord may where it is reasonable to do so condition permission for a modification on the renter agreeing to restore the interior of the premises to the condition that existed before the modification, reasonable wear and tear excepted.”

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 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.

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 topics affecting real estate professionals), 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 real estate con ed courses are fully approved and properly certified by the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth. All of our courses are designed to offer our students the most information, as quickly and economically as possible.

Copyright © 123 ConEd LLC 2009. All rights reserved.