MORTGAGE AGENT SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR ROLE IN MORTGAGE FRAUD

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Las Vegas Mortgage Agent Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison for Role in Mortgage Fraud Scheme

A Las Vegas mortgage agent was sentenced late yesterday to serve 15 months in prison for her participation in a mortgage fraud scheme that netted more than $1.2 million in fraudulent mortgage loans, Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden of the District of Nevada and Acting Special Agent in Charge William C. Woerner of the FBI’s Las Vegas Field Office announced today.

Heidi Haischer, 44, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Miranda M. Du in the District of Nevada. In addition to her prison term, Haischer was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release.

In November 2012, after a four-day trial, a federal jury in Las Vegas found Haischer guilty of one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for submitting fraudulent loan documents to purchase two homes.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Haischer participated in a mortgage fraud scheme while employed as a mortgage broker in Nevada. From December 2006 to January 2007, Haischer and her co-conspirators fraudulently secured loans totaling over $1 million to obtain properties with the intent to flip and sell them for profit. Evidence at trial showed that Haischer and her co-conspirators subsequently enriched themselves by collecting brokerage commissions generated by the sales of the properties.

The court documents and trial evidence demonstrated that Haischer submitted multiple loan applications in which she overstated her income, submitted false verification of employment and misrepresented her intent to reside in one of the properties as her primary residence. Additionally, Haischer presented inflated bank account balances supported by forged bank statements to make it appear that she had assets she did not have, in order to help qualify for mortgage loans for which she otherwise would not have been eligible.

Co-conspirator Kelly Nunes was convicted in a related case in Las Vegas on Feb. 2, 2012, of one count of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud. On July 11, 2012, Nunes was sentenced to 51 months in prison.

This case was investigated by the FBI. Trial Attorneys Thomas B.W. Hall and Brian R. Young of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada.

This case was a result of efforts by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed more than 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,700 mortgage fraud defendants.

WOMAN SENTENCED AND FIND FOR SCHEME TO DEFRAUD MANUFACTURERS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
New York Woman Sentenced for Scheme to Defraud Consumer Product Manufacturers

A New York woman was sentenced to 19 months in prison today for her role in a scheme to defraud consumer product manufacturers, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana.

Dina Wein Reis, 49, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jane E. Magnus-Stinson in the Southern District of Indiana and ordered to pay restitution of $5,678,190 and a fine of $1 million.

Reis pleaded guilty on May 19, 2011, to a criminal information charging her with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to plea documents, between June 2003 and July 2006 Reis owned and operated a marketing business based in New York and used fraudulent means to obtain consumer goods at discounted prices from manufacturers and distributors of consumer products. Participants in the scheme "cold-called" executives at large consumer product companies to solicit their products, falsely promising that if each manufacturer sold its products to Reis, the products would be distributed to a variety of outlets that were typically difficult for these manufacturers to reach on their own. The scheme included a marketing venture called the "Goody Pak Program," which distributed products free of charge to schools for school fundraisers and helped generate marketing information for these manufacturers.

Reis admitted that she negotiated a discount from the manufacturers based on the possibility of future profitable business for the manufacturers arising from her marketing efforts when, in fact, she made few efforts and sold the majority of the products to wholesalers for a profit. As a result, a manufacturer in Indiana lost $180,000, and a Missouri manufacturer lost $500,000. Reis also agreed through her plea agreement to make restitution to manufacturing companies not specifically named in the information.

The cases were investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service. The cases were prosecuted by Trial Attorney Matthew Klecka of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, formerly a Trial Attorney in the Division’s Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Winfield Ong of the Southern District of Indiana.