Felony charges were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. Williams is the 31st individual to plead guilty or agree to plead guilty as a result of ongoing antitrust investigations into bid rigging and fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California.

According to court documents, Williams conspired with others not to bid against one another but instead to designate a winning bidder to obtain selected properties at public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Mateo County, California. Williams was also charged with conspiring to use the mail to carry out schemes to fraudulently acquire title to selected properties sold at public auctions, to make and receive payoffs, and to divert to co-conspirators money that would have otherwise gone to mortgage holders and others.

Williams conspired with others to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Mateo County beginning as early as October 2009 and continuing until about December 2010.

The primary purpose of the conspiracies was to suppress and restrain competition and to conceal payoffs in order to obtain selected real estate offered at San Mateo County public foreclosure auctions at non-competitive prices. When real estate properties are sold at these auctions, the proceeds are used to pay off the mortgage and other debt attached to the property, with remaining proceeds, if any, paid to the homeowner.

A violation of the Sherman Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for individuals. The maximum fine for the Sherman Act charge may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims if either amount is greater than $1 million. A count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The government can also seek to forfeit the proceeds earned from participating in the conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

The Department of Justice announced the guilty plea.

The charges are the latest filed by the department in its ongoing investigation into bid rigging and fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Francisco, San Mateo, Contra Costa, and Alameda Counties, California. These investigations are being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office and the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office. Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to public real estate foreclosure auctions should contact the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Field Office at 415-436-6660, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm, or call the FBI tips line at 415-553-7400.

“Collusion at these foreclosure auctions enabled the conspirators to present the illusion of competition, when they were actually thwarting the competitive process and profiting at the expense of lenders and distressed homeowners,” said Bill Baer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “The division remains committed to holding accountable those who illegally subvert competition at real estate foreclosure auctions across the country.”

“The legitimacy of an open, public real estate foreclosure auction is compromised when an individual or group conspires to commit criminal activity which impacts genuine intentions of good citizens,” said David J. Johnson, FBI Special Agent in Charge of the San Francisco Field Office. “We are steadfast in our continued partnership with the Antitrust Division in bringing those criminally responsible to justice.”

The defendant pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Noel L. Hillman in federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and one count of wire fraud.

According to documents filed in this case, the plea agreement and statements made in court:

The Vacation Ownership Group, a/k/a VO Group LLC, purported to offer consulting services to owners of timeshares, including timeshare cancellation services. In April 2010, Bird started working at the VO Group and was trained by Adam Lacerda and VO Group managers to call customers using prepared scripts. Bird would call customers and give them the false impression that he was working for a bank or lending institution. Bird then would falsely represent that the VO Group could pay off the customers’ timeshares or have their timeshares cancelled. After hearing Bird’s false representations, some customers sent checks to the VO Group. Bird admitted to causing more than $200,000 in losses.

Bird also admitted to devising a separate scheme to defraud the New Jersey Department of Labor by collecting unemployment compensation benefits while working at the VO Group. Bird pleaded guilty to a count charging him with applying for and collecting $18,104 in unemployment compensation benefits to which he was not entitled.

On January 23, 2013, other members of the VO Group were charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and other charges. Additional members of the VO Group were also charged by criminal complaint in April 2012. To date, 13 members of the VO Group, including Bird, have pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. As for the Lacerdas and other defendants who have not been convicted in this case, the charges and allegations against them are merely accusations, and they are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The mail and wire fraud conspiracy charge to which Bird pleaded guilty is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine or twice the gain or loss caused by the offense. The wire fraud charged is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine or twice the gain or loss caused by the offense. Sentencing is scheduled for October 3, 2013.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced the guilty plea.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents from the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark; and special agents from the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Robert Panella, New York Region, for their roles in the investigation leading to these guilty pleas. He also thanked the New Jersey Department of Labor, Benefit Payment Control Unit, for its assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alyson M. Oswald and R. David Walk, Jr. of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

The defendant was sentenced by  United States District Court Judge Joan N. Ericksen to 46 months imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Lance was charged on July 22, 2011, and pleaded guilty on August 10, 2011.

In his plea agreement, Lance admitted that between 2004 and 2007, he conspired with others to obtain mortgage loan proceeds based on fraudulent documentation. Lance’s unnamed co-conspirators identified residential properties available for purchase and recruited buyers for those properties. Two of the co-conspirators told buyers they would receive payments in the form of kickbacks after the property transactions had closed, and that they could put those payments toward the mortgages or use them to improve the properties.

For his part, Lance admitted using his licensed mortgage brokerage and his position within that brokerage to help prepare and submit false mortgage loan applications, which misrepresented the buyers’ true financial situation. Based on those fraudulent documents, loans were approved, and loan proceeds were disbursed by wire transfer into the accounts of various title companies. Due to paperwork that misrepresented the true nature of the real estate transactions, Lance and his co-conspirators then caused those title companies to disburse portions of the proceeds from the various transactions into bank accounts not associated with the property buyers, the purpose being to conceal the undisclosed kickbacks. Lance received more than $200,000 for assisting buyers in securing mortgage loans for at least 24 properties.

This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy L. Perzel.

The defendant’s other schemes were aimed at fleecing the school district of more than $360,000 in fraudulently obtained vacation time payouts.  Habel is charged in the first indictment with second degree Official Misconduct, second degree Theft by Deception, 2 counts of second degree Mortgage Fraud, first degree Financial Facilitation of Criminal Activity, third degree Theft by Failure to Make Required Disposition of Property, and 8 counts of Falsifying or Tampering with Records.

The second indictment attaches Habel to the previous indictment handed up against his former assistant in the Wall Township school district, Sandra Brower, charging him with second degree Official Misconduct, second degree Conspiracy and fourth degree Obstructing the Administration of Law or Other Governmental Function.

The first indictment charges that Habel carried out a scheme to defraud the district of approximately $362,000 when he failed to notify the district of his absence and properly account for about 110 days when he was absent and outside the district, oftentimes on Fridays and Mondays. Upon retirement, Habel was paid approximately $93,000 for the 110 vacation days he never deducted from his accrued vacation balance.

As a separate and additional part of the scheme, Habel repeatedly cashed in vacation days and deposited the proceeds into tax-deferred accounts, yet failed to deduct the cashed-in vacation days from his accrued vacation balance. As a result, on several occasions during his tenure, Habel was the beneficiary of double-dipped payments of approximately $268,000 when his vacation balance was carrying in the negative.

As a further part of his scheme, Habel attempted to conceal his criminal activity by thwarting attempts by school district human resources officials to accurately record his attendance, directing subordinates to delete and destroy records that accurately accounted for his vacation day cash-ins and balance, and directing the district Information Technology (IT) director to delete certain e-mails from the school district’s computer server — an order that was disregarded. Habel also is charged with shredding, destroying or removing files from his office, all in an effort to conceal his criminal conduct.

Additionally, the first indictment charges Habel with two counts of theft, totaling more than $1 million, for committing mortgage fraud in acquiring loans to refinance his Point Pleasant  Beach, New Jersey, and Florida homes; as well as one count of theft of district-issued electronic equipment, including a personal computer, flat-panel monitor, laptop computer, cellular phone and iPad.

The last eight counts charge Habel with 8 counts of falsifying or tampering with records, all in an effort to carry out or conceal the aforementioned criminal activity.

The first degree Financial Facilitation of Criminal Activity charge comes with a mandatory minimum exposure of no less than 10 years in state prison, if convicted; and there is a mandatory minimum required sentence of five years in prison, if he is convicted on the second degree Official Misconduct charge.

If convicted, Habel would face 10-20 years in a New Jersey state prison for the first degree offense; 5-10 years on each of the second degree offenses; 3-5 years on the third degree charges and up to 18 months for each of the fourth degree charges.

Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced the charges.

This case is being prosecuted by Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni and Assistant Prosecutor John Loughrey. The defendant is represented by Robert Honeker, Jr., Esq. of Ocean Township.

Edgar Tibakweitira, a/k/a Edgar Julian, Charles Edgar Tibakweitira, and Edgar Gaudious Tibakweitira, 44, Severn, Maryland;

Flavia Makundi, 41, Severn, Maryland;

Carmen Johnson, 46, Gambrills, Maryland;

Mokorya Cosmas Wambura, 40, Mount Ranier, Maryland;

Cane Mwihava, 42, Bowie, Maryland; and

Annika Boas, 36, Mount Ranier, Maryland.

The indictment was returned on June 10, 2013, and the last defendant, Wambura, was arrested June 17, 2013.

According to the 21 count indictment, Tibakweitira was a real estate agent for Century 21 Advantage Realty and its successor, Elite Real Estate Group. Tibakweitira recruited his wife Makundi, and others, including Wambura, Mwihava and Boas, to act as straw purchasers of homes. Johnson owned CJ Lending and Able Estate & Company which provided credit repair services.

The indictment alleges that from March 2007 to November 2008, the defendants sought mortgages for properties at values in excess of the properties’ actual market values. Tibakweitira allegedly procured inflated appraisals and created false addendums to the sales contracts requiring large amounts of loan proceeds to be disbursed for renovations or repairs. The defendants allegedly used stolen or false identities, false documents – including W-2 forms, earnings statements, and bank statements – and false credit information to induce lenders to provide residential mortgage loans to the straw buyers.

Large amounts of the proceeds of the fraudulently obtained loans were allegedly disbursed from escrow accounts to Destiny Property Management, LLC and Destiny Property Management Company, which were shell companies owned by Tibakweitira, for repairs and renovations that were never made. These funds were in turn paid to the defendants. The defendants did not make or stopped making the mortgage payments and allowed the properties, including 10 properties located in Severna Park, Baltimore, Hyattsville and Silver Spring, Maryland, to go into foreclosure.

The indictment alleges that as a result of the conspiracy, lenders provided over $3.5 million for fraudulently obtained loans, which resulted in losses of over $1 million to the lenders, the Federal Housing Administration which insured some of the loans, and the Federal National Mortgage Corporation (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), who purchased some of the loans in the secondary mortgage market.

All of the defendants face a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for the conspiracy and wire fraud; and a mandatory minimum of two years for aggravated identity theft consecutive to any other sentence. The defendants have had their initial appearances in federal court in Greenbelt. Tibakweitira, Makundi and Boas are currently detained and Johnson and Mwihava were released. A hearing is scheduled for Wambura regarding his detention.

The indictment was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Inspector General David A. Montoya, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; Inspector General Steve A. Linick of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General; Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Kelly of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office; Special Agent in Charge David Beach of the United States Secret Service – Washington Field Office; Brian Crane, Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, U.S. Department of the Treasury – Office of Inspector General; and Special Agent in Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) .

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised HUD-OIG, FHFA-OIG, Treasury OIG, U.S. Secret Service, IRS-Criminal Investigation and Baltimore HSI for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristi N. O’Malley and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin DiGregory, Investigative Counsel for the Federal Housing Finance Agency Inspector General, who are prosecuting the case.

The defendant pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in Bridgeport federal court to an information charging her with one count of making a false statement on a loan application.

According to court documents filed in this case and related cases and statements made in court:

Davis owned and operated Optimum Mortgage, New Haven. From November 2006 to April 2007, she submitted loan applications to lenders that falsely stated the borrower’s intention to reside in the subject property, failed to disclose a complete listing of the borrower’s assets and liabilities, including other residential mortgages that Davis brokered for the same borrower. Davis admitted that on two occasions she used her own money to make the down payment on behalf of the borrower.

The count to which Davis pleaded guilty is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1.2 million. As part of her plea agreement, Davis agreed to pay at least $605,300 in restitution. Judge Hall has scheduled sentencing for Sept. 6, 2013.

This case is being investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency – Office of Inspector General.

The criminal case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David T. Huang and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney John McReynolds; the parallel civil forfeiture cases are being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie G. Turbert.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman, District of New Jersey, announced the guilty plea.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey has been handling the case because of the recusal of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut.

A third defendant, Perry Bensick, 37, Monroe, Ohio was sentenced on May 21 for his role in the scheme to a year and a day in prison. Each will be placed under court supervision for three years after their prison terms end.

AEG approached homeowners in financial distress with promises to find a buyer for their property who would let them stay there as renters until they were ready to buy it back. AEG convinced individuals to become investors by promising them they could buy a property with no money down, collect rent for a year or two then sell it back to the renter for a profit. AEG inflated the sale price, put together fraudulent loan applications, and took out extra cash at closing. The renters never purchased the properties back and the investors couldn’t afford to keep them.

“As a result, the properties went into foreclosure with even larger loan balances and with investors/borrowers who did not appreciate the risk that they had undertaken,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Mangan wrote in a court filing before Dailey’s sentencing.

The FBI calculated that in 2006 and 2007, the scheme caused losses of $6,849,460 to lenders. The defendants will be ordered to pay restitution in an amount to be determined by the court.

“The lenders were not the only victims,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Mangan told the court. “For the investors, they typically ended in bankruptcy or with ruined credit in exchange for a rescue plan by AEG that was doomed to fail.”

Moellers pleaded guilty on August 9, 2012 to one count of conspiracy. Dailey pleaded guilty on June 4, 2012 to one count of wire fraud. Besnick pleaded guilty on August 6, 2012 to one count of conspiracy.

Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio and Kevin Cornelius, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cincinnati Field Division (FBI) announced the sentences imposed by U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett.

U.S. Attorney Stewart commended the investigation by the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mangan, who represented the United States in the case.

Head was charged with promoting prostitution, criminal conspiracy, and possessing instruments of a crime. He is in custody in the Allegheny County Jail.

A petition was filed in federal court in the Eastern District of California asking that a no bail bench warrant be issued for the defendant.

On May 30, 2013, after a nearly four-week trial, a federal jury in Sacramento, California, found Charles Head, formerly of Los Angeles, and his brother guilty of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with a nationwide “foreclosure rescue” scam. According to evidence presented at trial, Charles Head was the leader of a scam that, between January 2004 and March 2006, netted more than $15 million in fraudulently obtained funds from scores of homeowners, many of whom were in California.

After the jury verdict, Head was allowed to remain out of custody. The court advised of the penalties for any failure to appear and that any violation, even a technical violation, would be brought to the court’s attention.

Charles Head is scheduled for a second trial on September 9, 2013 with six other defendants, who are charged with operating an additional equity-stripping scheme that netted approximately $5.9 million in stolen equity from homeowners recruited via the Internet. Head and the other defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Schloemann pleaded guilty on August 22, 2012, to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in violation of 18 United States Code Section 1349. According to court documents, Schloemann was the president of Hiddenbrooke Mortgage Company, a real estate and mortgage brokerage company in operation from 2005 through 2007 in Vallejo, California. Between 2006 and July 2007, Schloemann conspired with others to purchase more than 18 properties in the Northern and Eastern Districts of California in the names of fictitious identities and using straw buyers. As part of the conspiracy Schloemann supervised others who processed loan packages with materially false information, including contracts that reflected inflated sales prices above the original sales prices.

The purchase loans, which were 100% financed, exceeded the sales prices received by the sellers. The excess amounts from the loan proceeds, or “profits” from the transactions, were dispersed through escrow to entities controlled in part by Schloemann. All but a few of the properties involved in the conspiracy were foreclosed due to the failure to make mortgage payments. The lenders sustained significant losses as a result of the fraud.

Schloemann was indicted by a federal grand jury on October 9, 2009. She was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.

The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton, following the defendant’s guilty plea. Judge Hamilton also sentenced the defendant to a 3-year period of supervised release. Schloemann, who has been out of custody on bond since November 2009, will begin serving her sentence on July 29, 2013.

United States Attorney Melinda Haag announced the sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina Marie McCall is the attorney who prosecuted the case with the assistance of Noble Hughes and Kathleen Turner. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the IRS-Criminal Investigation with the assistance of the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Stoltenberg was the former owner of JC Mortgage, Madison, Wisconsin. She devised a scheme to obtain a residential loan for a client by submitting false documentation to the lender. Stoltenberg was assisted by Edwin P. Gray, an accountant working in Oregon, Wisconsin, who falsified the client’s income on a W-2 form, which allowed the client to qualify for a loan that he otherwise would not have obtained. Gray pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud on August 12, 2012, and was sentenced to three years’ probation on October 11, 2012.

In sentencing Ring, Judge Crabb reduced her sentence from a possible imprisonment range of 27 to 33 months based in part on her cooperation in an ongoing investigation, and noted the serious nature of her crime, and the need to deter others similarly situated from engaging in criminal conduct. Ring paid the remaining restitution owed of $335,400 prior to sentencing. Gray had paid $700 towards restitution since his sentencing.

John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced the sentence.

The charge in this case are the result of an investigation conducted by the Madison Resident Agency of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter M. Jarosz.