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PENSACOLA, FL - September 10, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- In February, Pamela C. Marsh, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced that nine defendants had been federally indicted for their involvement in several multi-jurisdictional mortgage fraud schemes and that two previously indicted defendants had been sentenced to prison. Today, two additional defendants have been found guilty and now await sentencing.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - November 10, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that a Tampa couple has pled guilty to a mortgage fraud racketeering conspiracy. David Barile, 44, and Melissa D. Barile, 35, both of Tampa, were involved in an $8.8 million mortgage fraud scheme prosecuted by the Office of Statewide Prosecution.

JACKSONVILLE, FL - August 22, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces that Cynthia Darlene Strickland (age 45, Jacksonville) pleaded guilty on Thursday to bank fraud. Strickland was a licensed title agent and the owner of Premier Title Group, Inc., a title agency in Jacksonville. She faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - April 27, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Florida CFO Jeff Atwater today announced the arrest of Jose Claudio Pereira, owner of BR Mortgage Group Corporation, on charges of racketeering for his part in fraudulent mortgage transactions in Broward, St. Lucie and Brevard counties.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - January 10, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater today announced the arrest of mortgage fraud scammer Guillermo Fraginals Parra, 37, of Hialeah, on charges of first degree grand theft. Parra, the 18th individual arrested in this scam, was a real estate appraiser at the time the crimes occurred and was being paid on the side to inflate the value of various condominiums in the Brickell Bay Condo Community

TALLAHASSEE, FL - July 16, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Florida CFO Alex Sink today announced the arrests of six criminals involved in a mortgage fraud scam that resulted in more than $2 million in fraudulent mortgages. The arrests are the result of a joint investigation by the Department of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud (DIF), the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations’ Miami Field Off

TALLAHASSEE, FL - February 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Bill McCollum and Office of Financial Regulation Commissioner J. Thomas Cardwell today announced that a Seminole County man was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to a criminal racketeering scheme that involved mortgage fraud in home purchasing. Upon his release from prison, Stanford Morgan, president and owner of Homes for Sale by Owner, Inc., must also pay full restitution, including $200,000 to an investing couple in one transaction and compensation to the lending institutions he defrauded in other transactions. Morgan was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.

JACKSONVILLE, FL—United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton announces that U.S. District Judge Henry Lee Adams, Jr., today sentenced Juan Carlos Gonzalez (age 51, of Jacksonville) to seven years in federal prison for conspiring to commit wire and bank fraud. The court also entered a money judgment against Gonzalez for $6,296,303.65, the amount that Gonzalez obtained from the fraud. Gonzalez had pleaded guilty on November 25, 2008

September 24, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael J. Folmar, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced today that defendant Adriana Cruz, 27, of Miami, was sentenced by United States District Judge Alan S. Gold on September 18, 2009, for her role in a mortgage fraud scheme that resulted in the granting of two fraudulent home equity loans totaling approximately $1 million

TALLAHASSEE, FL - September 9, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that a Jensen Beach Pastor and his wife have been sentenced to prison terms for a mortgage fraud scheme. Rodney McGill will serve 20 years in prison and his mortgage broker wife Shalonda will serve a 10-year prison sentence for running a mortgage fraud scheme that enticed victims to participate in a real estate investment “opportunity” but instead was an effort to rid the McGills of their mortgages. In addition to their sentences, each will serve 10 years of probation upon their release. The case was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution in partnership with the State Attorney Bruce Colton of the 19th Judicial Circuit.

September 8, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Michael J. Folmar, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, Miami Field Office, and J. Thomas Cardwell, Commissioner, State of Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation, announced that defendant Michael A. Meisner, 52, of Boca Raton, Florida, pled guilty today before the Honorable U.S. Magistrate Judge James M. Hopkins to a three-count Information filed on September 2, 2009, which charged mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C.§ 1341, loan application fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014, and tax evasion, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201. Bond was set at a $500,000 corporate surety bond, and a $500,000 personal surety bond. Sentencing was set for November 20, 2009, at 9:30 a.m., before the Honorable U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra. Meisner faces a maximum of 55 years imprisonment.

TAMPA, FL - August 17, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Bill McCollum today hosted a Tampa town hall meeting with Florida’s Interagency Mortgage Fraud Task Force to discuss the housing crisis. The event, designed to present a comprehensive approach for dealing with housing-related issues, provided community education and assistance to over 150 attendees. Participating agencies included state agencies, law enforcement, regulatory authorities, housing counselors and volunteer lawyers.

TAMPA, FL - August 11, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton announces that Thomas E. Stringer (Tampa, Florida) today pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud fore Magistrate Judge Mark A. Pizzo. Stringer faces a maximum penalty of thirty years in federal prison. However, because it appears that no one sustained a loss from the commission of the crime, the relevant sentencing guidelines contemplate the imposition of a non-custodial sentence. United States intends to seek forfeiture of $222,362.00, the amount of the proceeds from the fraud. A sentencing date has not been set

TALLAHASSEE, FL - April 07, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) —Attorney General Bill McCollum announced today that his office has obtained a settlement with an Orlando company that provided foreclosure services to consumers. Homestead Protection Services, LLC has agreed to dissolve the company and must refrain from any future violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. The company must also pay $20,000 in consumer restitution and must reimburse the state $5,000 for fees and costs of the investigation.