A New Jersey woman and her parents were found guilty of a sophisticated mortgage equity fraud scheme by a Pennsylvania federal jury.
Silver Buckman, 37, her father Vincent Foxworth, 70, and her mother Cynthia Foxworth, 64, face 87 to 108 months in prison following their conviction on charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Their scheme allegedly resulted in losses of about $3.8 million to mortgage lenders.
Buckman and her parents targeted families on the edge of default and persuaded them to refinance their loans in a lease-buyback program. Instead the accused appropriated the funds and stripped whatever equity the victims had left in the property, according to an Oct. 30 U.S. Attorney statement.
The co-conspirators allegedly falsified financial and information documents in order to prop up straw investors that could take out mortgage loans for the families.
Homeowners were told that they would remain on the title on the property, that the loan proceeds would be placed in an escrow account for future mortgage payments and that they would eventually be able to repurchase their homes, according to prosecutors.
Buckman and her partners then diverted the proceeds, allegedly paying only small sums on the mortgages they had taken out, with the new loans ending up in default.
The scheme took place between 2006 and 2009, prosecutors say.
Buckman operated through her company, Fresh Start Financial Services, and also worked at American Home Lending and American One Mortgage. Foxworth, her father, is a real estate broker.
Last October, the family was charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy alongside three other alleged co-conspirators. The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigations branch.
