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6 accused in Mass. mortgage scheme
Court Watch |
2009/12/24 21:03
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| Three real estate investors, two mortgage brokers and a disbarred attorney have been indicted for allegedly participating in a complex scheme to defraud homeowners and mortgage lenders in the Boston area, authorities announced Tuesday.pThe six defendants are charged with larceny and making false or exaggerated statements./ppState Attorney General Martha Coakley, who announced the indictments at a news conference, said the scheme netted more than $2 million in proceeds./ppThose charged were: Joshua Brown, 29, of Brockton; Brian Frank, 32, of New Hartford, N.Y.; and John Sweetland, 28, of Yorba Linda, Calif., all identified as real estate investors. Mortgage brokers Linda Defeo, 28, of Springfield, and Brian Arrington, 39, of Boston, were also charged./ppFormer attorney Bruce Namenson, 47, of Walpole, was also charged. In unrelated cases, Namenson was disbarred in 2008 for converting clients' money for his own use and sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to motor vehicle insurance fraud./ppAuthorities allege that Brown, Frank and Sweetland, of Boston Equity Investments, used inflated property appraisals and other fraudulent documents to obtain approximately $12.5 million in loans from more than a dozen financial lending institutions to purchase 26 multifamily homes./ppThey allegedly arranged for the sellers to receive much less money for the sales than the maximum amount of financing that BEI was able to get from the lenders in the homebuyers' names. At closings, BEI would pocket the difference, which was usually between $50,000 and $100,000, and sometimes as much as $150,000, Coakley said./p |
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Teen charged with starting 2 California wildfires
Court Watch |
2009/12/24 21:03
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A 16-year-old Southern California boy was charged Wednesday as an adult for allegedly starting two arson wildfires in San Bernardino County earlier this year.
pRicky Sean Lukacs will be arraigned in adult court on Dec. 28 and is being held in juvenile hall, said Deputy District Attorney Karen Khim./ppHe is charged with two counts of arson of an inhabited structure for fires on Aug. 30 and 31 in the Yucaipa area, 65 miles east of Los Angeles./ppLukacs was originally arrested and charged as a juvenile, but the charges were refiled in adult court, said Susan Mickey, district attorney spokeswoman./ppThe fires did not cause serious injury or death, but one burned about 1 1/2 square miles in the community of Oak Glen, and the other threatened about 400 homes in Yucaipa before it was contained./p |
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Judge orders new trial in Chicago patronage case
Law Firm News |
2009/12/23 21:00
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| A federal judge threw out the fraud conviction of Chicago's former streets and sanitation commissioner Tuesday and granted him a new trial on charges of illegally rewarding political campaign workers with city jobs.brpAl Sanchez was convicted at the high profile trial based on testimony from a key witness whose arrest record and gang affiliations should have been disclosed beforehand to defense attorneys but were not, Judge Robert W. Gettleman said./ppFBI agents based in Indiana also should have told prosecutors in Chicago that the witness, Brian Gabriel, was under investigation in a gang war between the Spanish Vice Lords and Latin Kings at the time of the trial, Gettleman said./ppAnd the prosecutors could have learned of that investigation if they had performed a records search, Gettleman said in his 22-page opinion./ppBased on these findings, this court has lost confidence in the integrity of the verdict convicting these defendants, Gettleman said in his 22-page opinion./ppGettleman also ordered a new trial for a youthful former aide to Sanchez, Aaron Delvalle, who was convicted of one count of perjury at the March trial./ppThe trial attracted the spotlight because as streets and sanitation commissioner Sanchez headed a department that for decades was a major pool of patronage jobs for the once mighty Chicago Democratic Machine. That spotlight was intensified because in recent years the U.S. attorney's office has conducted a major investigation of hiring fraud at City Hall./p |
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Balloon boy dad gets jail time, strict probation
Headline News |
2009/12/23 21:00
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The man who carried out the balloon boy hoax has been sentenced to jail for the stunt.
pA judge sentenced Richard Heene to 90 days in jail, including 60 days of work release that will let him pursue work as a construction contractor while doing his time. The judge also imposed conditions on Heene's probation that forbid him from profiting from the balloon spectacle in any way for four years./ppHeene choked back tears as he said he was sorry, especially to the rescue workers who chased down false reports that his 6-year-old son had floated away in a balloon. He said: I do want to reiterate that I'm very, very sorry./ppRichard and Mayumi Heene pleaded guilty to charges that they carried out the balloon stunt in October to promote a reality TV show. Mayumi Heene's sentencing is under way./p |
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Judge rejects mandatory condoms on LA porn sets
Law Center |
2009/12/23 20:58
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| A Los Angeles judge has denied a request from an AIDS advocacy group calling for mandatory use of condoms on porn sets.pJudge David Yaffe on Tuesday rejected a petition from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation that contended county health officials hadn't done enough to prevent sexually transmitted diseases in the porn industry./ppThe group sued the county in July after data showed there were more than 3,700 STD cases over the past five years reported by a clinic that serves porn actors./ppIn denying the foundation's request, Yaffe said the county has broad discretion in how it oversees public health. The group plans to appeal the decision./p |
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Ind. attorney general sues lumber recycling plant
Headline News |
2009/12/22 21:02
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nbsp;Indiana's attorney general is suing a northern Indiana lumber recycling plant with a history of environmental and worker-safety violations.
pThe lawsuit filed Monday in Elkhart County seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions to halt open dumping of wood wastes at VIM Recycling Inc.'s Elkhart operation. It also asks a judge to order VIM to remove waste materials and debris from its property./ppCompany spokesman Tom Holt says VIM is extremely surprised by the lawsuit. He says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to allow VIM to place wood from the recreational vehicles and manufactured housing industries on asphalt at its property./p |
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