It's Jail Time for Crooked Real Estate Appraiser
admin — April 25, 2013 — 2 Comments
David C. Christian, 63, Catonsville, Maryland, a real estate appraiser, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar to 15 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Judge Bredar also ordered Christian to pay restitution of $2,440,804.
According to his guilty plea, Christian appraised a number of properties on behalf of purchasers who were seeking financing through Worthington Mortgage Group, LLC, a mortgage brokerage company controlled by Joshua Goldberg, operating out of an office on Gough Street, Baltimore, Maryland. Christian admitted that from April 2004 to April 2008, at Goldberg's request, he prepared at least 16 fraudulent appraisals for $4,001,950 in loans originated at the mortgage company.
Christian falsified the appraisals by using fake photos and descriptions of the properties, misrepresenting the condition of the properties, and used inappropriate comparable properties. The total loss for the 16 loans amounted to $2,440,804, including $814,730, to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and $757,293 to the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae).
In March and June 2007, Christian used Goldberg as the mortgage broker to refinance property that he and his wife owned in Catonsville, Maryland. Christian submitted false appraisals that inflated the property value and caused another appraiser to sign the documents to avoid the obvious conflict of performing an appraisal on his own property. With Christian's knowledge, Goldberg processed the loan in Christian's wife's name, falsifying her income and employment, as well as the balance in the couple's bank account and misrepresented other information. The loans were funded by another mortgage company, and Christian and his wife eventually defaulted on the loan, resulting in a loss of nearly $140,000.
Joshua S. Goldberg was indicted on related charges earlier this year. He is believed to be a fugitive.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Inspector General Steve A. Linick of the Federal Housing Finance Agency; and Postal Inspector in Charge Gary R. Barksdale of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service – Washington Division.
The Maryland Mortgage Fraud Task Force was established to unify the agencies that regulate and investigate mortgage fraud and promote the early detection, identification, prevention and prosecution of mortgage fraud schemes. This case, as well as other cases brought by members of the Task Force, demonstrates the commitment of law enforcement agencies to protect consumers from fraud and promote the integrity of the credit markets. Information about mortgage fraud prosecutions is available www.justice.gov/usao/md/Mortgage-Fraud/index.html.
This law enforcement action is part of President Barack Obama's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, Federal Housing Finance Agency – Office of Inspector General, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory R. Bockin, who prosecuted the case.
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2 responses to It's Jail Time for Crooked Real Estate Appraiser
Jeff Vinson November 27, 2014 at 6:58 pm
Excellent. Finally some real-estate hacker gets what has been coming to him for long. Guys like these should be behind bars. And thankfully, now, one of them is.
Thomas May 21, 2014 at 8:24 am
The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners.