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Nine Alleged, Convicted in Mortgage Fraud Cases

Another week rolled by with more instances of mortgage fraud, as reported by several news outlets from around the country. Nine defendants alternately received indictments, pled guilty, and submitted to their sentences from courts as a result of allegations and convictions stemming from mortgage fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, and money-laundering activities.

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The fraudulent activities, followed up by days in court, occurred across four states, with the ""_Associated Press_"":http://ap.org/, ""_Central Valley Business Times_"":http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/, ""_Daily Local News_"":http://dailylocal.com/, and ""_Twin Cities Pioneer Press_"":http://www.twincities.com/ all reporting.

In Davenport, Iowa, a U.S. district court returned five-year sentences to Bettendorf natives Darryl Hanneken and Robert Herdrich for their pleas of guilty to conspiracy and fraud, according to the _AP_. The court ordered the defendants to restitute $869,000 in related fees.

The news service reported prosecutors as saying that Hanneken and Herdrich purchased 30 properties in Davenport by submitting fraudulent applications to banks and lenders between 2005 and 2006. The two men went through a real estate agent and mortgage broker to carry out the operations.

Across the country, in Sacramento, California, a federal grand jury slapped Sean Clendon, Anthony Salcedo, and Anthony Williams with 11 indictments over mortgage fraud identity, according to the _ Business Times_. The jury also indicted Williams for identity theft to the tune of two counts.

According to the _Business Times_, Williams and McClendon, a loan officer, went through sham buyers to fraudulently obtain four properties in Rocklin, Folsom, Sacramento, and El Dorado Hills.

The newspaper said that Salcedo paid off McClendon and Williams for their role in identifying the sham buyers, while McClendon oversaw the loans for each of the properties.

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Overstating home prices on loan documents and payments, each application falsified income and asset amounts for the buyers in order to qualify the loans.

The _Business Times_ reports that convictions may send the defendants to prison for up to 30 years, with $1 million in fines for each. Penalties related to identity theft, as for Williams, could mean two-year prison terms.

Meanwhile, one state over, in Las Vegas, Nevada, a defendant by the name of John Lucidi entered a guilty plea for his role in conspiring to commit millions of dollars in wire fraud and money-laundering activities, according to a story by the _Local News_ that quoted U.S. attorney Zane David Memeger.

According to the _Local News_, Lucidi conspired to knowingly filch money from, and commit acts of fraud against, several mortgage giants while on the payroll as a mortgage broker for companies in Pennsylvania. The banks on his list included ""Bank of America"":https://www.bankofamerica.com/, ""CitiMortgage"":https://www.citimortgage.com/Mortgage/Home.do?td, Countrywide Bank, ""First Magnus Financial"":http://magnusfinancial.net/, ""JP Morgan Chase"":http://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/Home/home.htm, ""PNC Bank"":https://www.pnc.com/webapp/unsec/Homepage.do?siteArea=/PNCCorp/PNC/Home/Personal, and ""Wells Fargo"":https://www.wellsfargo.com/. Lucidi pled guilty to his role in these activities between 2005 and 2008.

The newspaper reported that Lucidi allegedly scammed the banks to the tune of $7 million. He orchestrated the scheme by fronting a number of buyers to obtain mortgages under false information and pretenses. In turn, he paid the sham buyers $30,000 and $50,000, while he amassed inflated commissions and kickbacks on his purchases.

With sentencing set down the line, Lucidi may face jail time that last from 108 to 135 months, a three-year release involving supervision, plus fines amounting to either $1.5 million or $500,000 in addition to double the value in criminally derived property, according to _Local News_.

Finally, farther north, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a court sent Richard Sand down the river with a 30-month prison sentence for the part he played in a scam involving $2 million in fraudulent loans, according to _Pioneer Press_. Sand pled guilty back in March to one count of aiding and abetting wire fraud and another for money-laundering activities.

According to the newspaper, Sand, plus an attorney and ex-chairman of White Bear Township's board, faced sentences over a transaction that relied on falsified loan applications to secure a $2-million loan from Bank of America. Sand used his mother's name in the application to falsely signal that she owned a stake in the loan.