Strangeholliday
03-26-2008, 10:18 AM
By JOSH POLTILOVE
The Tampa Tribune
Published: March 26, 2008
Updated: 01:28 am
TAMPA - Four people were arrested Tuesday in a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme, state and local authorities said.
The arrests were the second phase of a multiyear investigation into a fraud that victimized dozens of people, Jackson said.
Arrested Tuesday were: Orson W. Benn, Constance M. Golder, David E. Tuggle Jr. and Eric C. Steinhauser.
The investigation identified 11 loan applications where Tuggle, Steinhauser, Golder and Benn participated in the preparation and submission of fraudulent loan application documents. Those loan documents totaled nearly $1.2 million.
Loans were issued to people in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Polk counties.
"Mortgage fraud threatens the very essence of the American dream - the goal of home ownership," state Attorney General Bill McCollum said Tuesday in prepared statement issued by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Benn, a former Argent Mortgage Co. vice president who was arrested in July, was arrested again at a hearing Tuesday in Polk County.
Golder, of South Tampa, had served as an account executive for Argent, a subprime mortgage company bought out last year by Citigroup.
Tuggle and Steinhauser were mortgage brokers for Tampa-based Sunstate Mortgage Co.
Through Sunstate, Tuggle and Steinhauser submitted 314 residential mortgage loan applications to Argent, an affidavit states.
Benn approved or oversaw the approval of the fraudulent loan applications, according to the FDLE release. Investigators alleged that Tuggle and Steinhauser paid Benn more than $100,000 for ensuring the approval of the fraudulent loans.
Golder served as liaison between Benn and Sunstate Mortgage, the release states.
"This is the second mortgage fraud case involving Benn, and investigators believe there may be numerous mortgage brokerage companies in Florida with whom Benn perpetrated similar schemes," the FDLE release states.
Benn was charged with racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, obtaining mortgage by false representation and two counts of grand theft. His attorney, Philip Averbuck, said Benn is not guilty.
Benn didn't know documents were fraudulent, had no way of knowing they were fraudulent, wasn't trained or responsible to know whether they were fraudulent and wasn't even the last person to sign off on them, Averbuck said.
Golder, Tuggle and Steinhauser were charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering. Golder, in Orient Road Jail on Tuesday, couldn't be reached for comment. Messages for Tuggle's attorney weren't immediately returned Tuesday. Ron Hanes, the attorney for Steinhauser, declined to comment.
The multiyear investigation into the mortgage scheme and Argent resulted in six arrests in July.
Several law enforcement agencies said Scott Almeida of Lithia and Frank S. Giffone of Tampa persuaded homeowners - the bulk of them minorities - in poor areas of Florida to take out home loans. The two told homeowners they would use the money to make significant home improvements, according to FDLE.
Benn and Samuel L. Green used their positions in Argent's White Plains , N.Y., office to subvert company policy and approve the loan packages, according to a previous news release from FDLE. Money was diverted into the bank accounts of those involved in the scheme, and the victims were left with large home loans and received little, if any, home improvement.
Thirty-one of the fraudulent loans included in an arrest affidavit total nearly $3 million.
The enterprise submitted nearly 130 loan applications to Argent.
Almeida, Giffone, Benn, Green and Adrienne L. White were charged with racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering. A sixth person, Bradford C. Peck, was convicted on racketeering charges in February and sentenced to up to eight years in prison, according to court records.
Almeida, Giffone and White have pleaded guilty to racketeering charges and are awaiting sentencing.
The cases for Green and Benn are pending..
The Tampa Tribune
Published: March 26, 2008
Updated: 01:28 am
TAMPA - Four people were arrested Tuesday in a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme, state and local authorities said.
The arrests were the second phase of a multiyear investigation into a fraud that victimized dozens of people, Jackson said.
Arrested Tuesday were: Orson W. Benn, Constance M. Golder, David E. Tuggle Jr. and Eric C. Steinhauser.
The investigation identified 11 loan applications where Tuggle, Steinhauser, Golder and Benn participated in the preparation and submission of fraudulent loan application documents. Those loan documents totaled nearly $1.2 million.
Loans were issued to people in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Polk counties.
"Mortgage fraud threatens the very essence of the American dream - the goal of home ownership," state Attorney General Bill McCollum said Tuesday in prepared statement issued by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Benn, a former Argent Mortgage Co. vice president who was arrested in July, was arrested again at a hearing Tuesday in Polk County.
Golder, of South Tampa, had served as an account executive for Argent, a subprime mortgage company bought out last year by Citigroup.
Tuggle and Steinhauser were mortgage brokers for Tampa-based Sunstate Mortgage Co.
Through Sunstate, Tuggle and Steinhauser submitted 314 residential mortgage loan applications to Argent, an affidavit states.
Benn approved or oversaw the approval of the fraudulent loan applications, according to the FDLE release. Investigators alleged that Tuggle and Steinhauser paid Benn more than $100,000 for ensuring the approval of the fraudulent loans.
Golder served as liaison between Benn and Sunstate Mortgage, the release states.
"This is the second mortgage fraud case involving Benn, and investigators believe there may be numerous mortgage brokerage companies in Florida with whom Benn perpetrated similar schemes," the FDLE release states.
Benn was charged with racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, obtaining mortgage by false representation and two counts of grand theft. His attorney, Philip Averbuck, said Benn is not guilty.
Benn didn't know documents were fraudulent, had no way of knowing they were fraudulent, wasn't trained or responsible to know whether they were fraudulent and wasn't even the last person to sign off on them, Averbuck said.
Golder, Tuggle and Steinhauser were charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering. Golder, in Orient Road Jail on Tuesday, couldn't be reached for comment. Messages for Tuggle's attorney weren't immediately returned Tuesday. Ron Hanes, the attorney for Steinhauser, declined to comment.
The multiyear investigation into the mortgage scheme and Argent resulted in six arrests in July.
Several law enforcement agencies said Scott Almeida of Lithia and Frank S. Giffone of Tampa persuaded homeowners - the bulk of them minorities - in poor areas of Florida to take out home loans. The two told homeowners they would use the money to make significant home improvements, according to FDLE.
Benn and Samuel L. Green used their positions in Argent's White Plains , N.Y., office to subvert company policy and approve the loan packages, according to a previous news release from FDLE. Money was diverted into the bank accounts of those involved in the scheme, and the victims were left with large home loans and received little, if any, home improvement.
Thirty-one of the fraudulent loans included in an arrest affidavit total nearly $3 million.
The enterprise submitted nearly 130 loan applications to Argent.
Almeida, Giffone, Benn, Green and Adrienne L. White were charged with racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering. A sixth person, Bradford C. Peck, was convicted on racketeering charges in February and sentenced to up to eight years in prison, according to court records.
Almeida, Giffone and White have pleaded guilty to racketeering charges and are awaiting sentencing.
The cases for Green and Benn are pending..