Tag Archives: TARP

A Florida man was sentenced on Tuesday to serve 12 months and one day in prison for defrauding thousands of homeowners in a $4 million nationwide home loan modification scheme. Vernell Burris Jr. was sentenced to prison along with two other previously sentenced co-defendants, Christopher Godfrey and Dennis Fischer, in a continuing SIGTARP case.

Christy Romero, Special Inspector General for the Trouble Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), announced Tuesday in a press release that David Weimert, of Madison, Wisconsin, has been charged with six counts of wire fraud involving a real estate development transaction.

The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced that two Florida men accused of defrauding homeowners have been sentenced to 84 months in federal prison. Christopher Godfrey and Dennis Fischer were sentenced to 7 years in prison Thursday, as well as a subsequent three years of supervised release, for initiating a scheme to defraud homeowners by charging fees for applications that are provided by the government for free.

A 46-year-old Florida builder convicted of bank fraud, money laundering, and identity theft tied to three different banks and Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds was sentenced on January 16 to six years in federal prison and ordered to pay back more than $3.7 million. Lawrence Allen Wright, of Niceville, pleaded guilty to seven charges, among them, conspiracy to commit money laundering and making a false statement to a federally insured financial institution.

A former U.S. Bank executive plead guilty to receiving bribes from Oxford Collection Agency over the course of several years in exchange for business, according to the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Wilbur Tate III served as the assistant VP at U.S. Bank from January 2004 through February 2011. He allegedly accepted bribes from Oxford starting in 2008--bribes which began as expensive cigars and escalated to cash payments disguised in cigar boxes.

In a speech to the nation, the president described a spirit of cooperation between Democrats and Republicans and between Congress and his administration. He invited leaders of both parties to the White House to discuss an upcoming vote which he acknowledged would be a tough decision for many members of Congress. And he closed with: ""America is a nation that tackles problems head on, where leaders come together to meet great tests."" The words were not those of President Obama but of President Bush.

A North Dakota judge sentenced two officers from an Arizona mortgage originator for their roles in a $28 million scheme to defraud North Dakota-based BNC National Bank.

Coinciding with Wednesday's House committee hearing on the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a boutique investment firm, released its predictions of what actions the government is and is not likely to take to further assist the housing market. Generally speaking, ""any large program expansions which require congressional approval are, in our view, not likely to go far,"" said Brian Gardner, SVP of Washington research at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

In a report, a taxpayer watchdog agency accused Treasury of lacking a concrete plan to help Ally pay back taxpayers and move toward financial stability. ""Four years after its first Government bailout, Ally still owes taxpayers $14.6 billion,"" SIGTARP stated in the report.

Once again, Treasury has failed to control excessive executive pay at the expense of taxpayers, according to a report from SIGTARP. After a previous evaluation on executive compensation, SIGTARP found Treasury approved ""excessive"" pay packages and salary increases for executives at three firms that received bailout-funds: American International Group (AIG), General Motors (GM), and Ally Financial. In response to a draft of the SIGTARP report, Treasury expressed disagreement with the findings in a letter.