Archives

DALLAS - December 17, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Eugene Lockhart, Jr. was sentenced this week by U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis to 54 months in federal prison and ordered to pay approximately $2.4 million in restitution following his guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, stemming from his leadership role in a massive mortgage fraud scheme that he and others ran in the Dallas area from approximately 2002 to 2005. Lockhart, of Carrollton, Texas, is the last of 10 defendants who were convicted in the scheme to be sentenced.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - October 18, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Gov. Rick Perry joined Dan Wallrath, founder and president of Operation Finally Home, and Jonestown Mayor Deane Armstrong to break ground on a brand-new, mortgage-free home for U.S. Army Spc. Augustine "Augie" Pena and his family, provided by Operation Finally Home, Silverton Custom Homes and Henley Homes

September 25, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- State Representative Eddie Lucio III announced the extension the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation’s (TSAHC) down payment assistance programs to current homeowners and those who previously owned a home.

HOUSTON - August 31, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Lisa Carol Ross, 50, of Missouri City, Texas, has pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today, along with FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen L. Morris and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge Lucy Cruz.

HOUSTON, TX - July 25, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Vincent Wallace Aldridge, a former fee attorney for First Southwestern Title Company, has been sentenced to 63 months’ imprisonment for wire fraud and money laundering arising from a scheme to defraud residential mortgage lenders of more than $3.7 million in loans in connection with home purchases in the Houston area, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today, along with FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen L. Morris and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge Rodney E. Clark.

DALLAS, TX - July 25, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- A federal grand jury in Dallas has returned a four-count indictment this week charging three individuals, Vathany Teng, Lina Ma and Jerry Goh each with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and two substantive counts of bank fraud in relation to a loan fraud scheme they allegedly ran in the Dallas area from August 2007 to April 2008. In addition, defendant Jerry Goh, a lawyer, is also charged with one count of witness tampering. All three defendants are expected to surrender to federal authorities and appear tomorrow, July 22, 2011, at 2:00 p.m., before U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma C. Ramirez. Today’s announcement was made by U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas.

Washington, DC - July 14, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Congresswoman Johnson announces that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in conjunction with NeighborWorks America has launched the Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program (EHLP) to help homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure in Texas

DALLAS, TX - July 7, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- An August 29, 2011 trial date before Chief U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater has been set for three defendants charged with running a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme in the Dallas area, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Gregory Lashon Thomas, Aja D. Crawford (aka Aja Abercrombie), and Ernest Ohenekitiwa McMillan were arrested on conspiracy to commit mail fraud and mail fraud charges outlined in a four-count indictment returned last month. All three pleaded not guilty and have been released on bond.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - July 7, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Congressman Rubén Hinojosa announces a new federal program, the Emergency Homeowners Loan Program (EHLP),that will directly help qualifying homeowners with their mortgage.

HOUSTON, TX - July 6, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Claymon “Butch” Trammell, along with his wife, Jeannettea Williams, and daughter, Michelle Trammell, have all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their roles in a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today. The three residents of Houston entered their pleas yesterday in federal court before United States District Court Judge Vanessa Gilmore.

Washington, D.C. - June 17, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators (AARMR) announced that the Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending (the Department), Mortgage Division, has received a certificate of accreditation for mortgage supervision, certifying that the Department maintains the standards and practices in state mortgage supervision set by the CSBS and AARMR Accreditation Program. The Department is the ninth to receive accreditation for mortgage supervision, and the first non-banking department to receive the mortgage accreditation

HOUSTON, TX - June 3, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Adrian Levale Cole and Albert Terrance Watkins, both of Houston, have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today.

AUSTIN, TX - April 19, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Representative Stefani Carter (Dallas) has passed House Bill 1343, which will expand the venues in which incidents of mortgage fraud may be prosecuted.

Washington, DC - April 14, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- This week, Congressman Al Green (TX-09) introduced two amendments which focus on housing counseling and the Housing and Urban Development Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program to the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (H.R. 1473).

DALLAS, TX - April 1, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- A 29-count indictment, returned last week by a federal grand jury in Dallas and unsealed this week, charges five individuals with various felony offenses related to a mortgage fraud scheme they ran for nearly three years in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas (NDTX).

AUSTIN, TX - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Representative Stefani Carter (Dallas) has filed legislation that will expand the venues in which incidents of mortgage fraud may be prosecuted. Carter worked with the Attorney General's office to craft House Bill 1343, which will enable cases of mortgage fraud to be prosecuted in multiple venues in an effort to alleviate the burden that high case loads are placing on our courts

Dallas, TX - February 23, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and First American Financial Corporation (First American) today partnered with the Dallas (Texas) Area Habitat for Humanity for a Habitat for Humanity homebuilding project in the Cedar Creek Ranch community in Dallas.

HOUSTON, TX - February 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Melvin Lendall Brown, a Houston area resident, has been sentenced to prison for wire fraud arising from a mortgage fraud scheme, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today. This morning, United States District Judge David Hittner sentenced Brown, 48, to 57 months in prison for his wire fraud conviction arising from an elaborate mortgage fraud scheme in which Brown was an organizer and leader. Brown pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud arising from the scheme on April 20, 2010. The scheme, carried out between June 2004 and June 2005, involved numerous misrepresentations on mortgage loan applications prepared for recruited straw purchasers and supported by fraudulent documents.

HOUSTON, TX - January 27, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, a jury sitting in United States District Judge Sim Lake’s Courtroom found Vincent Wallace Aldridge, former fee attorney for First Southwestern Title Company and attorney for Aldridge and Associates, along with Tori Elyse Aldridge, a former employee of First Southwestern Title Company and Gilbert Barry Isgar, a co-owner of Waterford Homes, guilty of charges of wire fraud and money laundering in a scheme to defraud residential mortgage lenders of more than $3.7 million in loans in connection with home purchases in the Houston area, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today along with FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard C. Powers and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge Rodney E. Clarke.

WASHINGTON, DC - January 25, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Congressman Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) released the following statement today regarding today’s New York Times report on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac legal defense fees: