The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week suspended business with certain individuals found guilty in court of involvement with scams regarding mortgaged properties, and in some cases, distressed borrowers.
Among those added to the FHFA's list of suspended counterparties were Patrick Joseph Soria, who was sentenced to over 10 years in prison for a loan relief scheme, and Peter Michno, a broker involved in improprieties involving the sale of real-estate owned properties.
These types of scams point to issues that may become more prominent as the market re-evaluates how
In the case of Soria, false ownership documentation was used in conjunction with purported loan relief services he offered, and when borrowers sent him payments through interstate wire services and other means, he used the money for personal purposes.
Entities that have ties to Soria and also have been suspended as counterparties include Bank of New York Mellon Trustee, Beverly Hills, California. (That entity has a similar name but is not to be confused with The Bank of New York Mellon, a common industry provider of trust services.) The FHFA also suspended Homeowner Help Initiative-Mortgage Protection Network and Wilmington Savings Fund Society in Beverly Hills, California as counterparties due to their ties to Soria.
Soria himself operated under various assumed names including David Olsen, Daniel Olsen, Spenser Ferguson, and Steven Wright, the FHFA noted.
In the case of Michno, the courts found that he paid bribes and kickbacks to Fannie Mae — one of the government-sponsored enterprises that the FHFA oversees — for the acceptance of below-market offers by him or his affiliates on foreclosure properties. The FHFA also suspended as a counterparty S&P Associates, a property management company in Livermore, California, due to its ties to Michno.
Another individual suspended by the agency this week was Victor Hugo Torres. The courts found that Torres was involved in the fraudulent refinancing of a mortgage on an income-producing property.
Torres had made false statements in denying, when asked, if the principal owners of the property were involved in bankruptcy proceedings in the last 10 years. He also falsified check images within the debtor's (Huntington Properties') bank statements, according to the FHFA.
The FHFA suspended these counterparties for at least five years. All its orders were final and allow certain exceptions related to residential mortgages, such as ones taken out for suspended individuals' personal use on their own homes.
