Saturday, April 24, 2010

House flippers charged with grand larceny

From WPIX:

Seven people, including a lawyer and three mortgage brokers, are facing an 82-count indictment on charges they bought and sold the same Bedford-Stuyvesant home on four separate occasions over a span of four years by stealing a woman's identity and securing four mortgages worth $2 million, the Queens District Attorney's Office announced Tuesday.

The suspects, identified as Ralph Pecorale, Thomas Debonis, Leonard Sudler, Richard Sudler, Marco Ramos, Sophia Welsh and Yves Mathieu, are accused of buying and selling a home located at 698A on DeKalb Ave. as many as four times, between 2005 and 2009.

According to the Queens District Attorney's Office, the group initially purchased the building, which was apparently vacant for the past 35 years, in 2005, using a straw buyer, whom they helped get a loan using false information.

The purchase was for $600,000 and the mortgage was for $544,000, the indictment said. In addition, the indictment charges in 2006 the ring arranged for the building to be sold to a different straw buyer, for $715,000.

With two mortgages equaling the full sale price, the defendants were reportedly able to pay off the first mortgage and rake in $102,000.

Eventually, the suspects stopped making mortgage payments, and in 2007 the house went into foreclosure. However, the indictment charges that on Feb. 14, 2008, the group settled the debt with the bank.

In addition, they allegedly sold the property to another straw buyer that same day -- this one apparently using a stolen identity -- who had obtained a $675,000 mortgage. As a result, the suspects made a tidy profit of $151,00 in a single day.

The Brooklyn's District Attorney's Office launched an investigation into the case when the mortgage defaulted on the home in 2009, and the suspects were negotiating with another bank for another false sale.

20 comments:

Babs said...

The lawyer will get his license suspended for about 6 months - and then placed back into the court system.

Auntie Invasion said...

were they all illegal immigrants? from the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Ecuador?

then this article is racist!
first you go after poor poor Pedro Espada, now this!

you white people are horrible.
by any means necessary, they will have to take back what is theirs from the slavery days.

Black people are innocent. it's you white that are always the problem, assuming authority, in your own country no less!

(please note- this is extreme sarcasm)

Anonymous said...

"The lawyer will get his license suspended for about 6 months - and then placed back into the court system."

If he's convicted, Babs, he'll automatically be disbarred. When a lawyer gets in trouble it's different than a physician. they really do come down harder on their own kind.

Babs said...

Anonymous - I know a lawyer who was suspended for six months for the forgery of her client's signature on a document concerning her legal fees. I believe that since she did it once - she really did it TEN times and got caught once. AND is most probably still doing it - unfortunately judges allow lawyers to write stipulations for them all the time which then only requires their signatures or their initials to be a court order - someone who is a proven forger should no longer be allowed in a courtroom.

When a lawyer is caught with their hands in a cookie jar - THEN yes I agree with you - they will be disbarred for embezzlement surely. Otherwise I believe anything else goes.

Anonymous said...

Babs - if they get CONVICTED of a felony, they are AUTOMATICALLY disbarred! Only lawyers suffer that fate - not physicians, CPAs, etc.

Anonymous said...

this scam seems to have begun in 2006.was this a sub-prime loan incident? why aren't the involved banks identified?
was H.U.D. Fannie Mae,Freddie Mac a player?(federal government).

you now can guess that Acorn may have been a player.

Babs said...

Anonymous: "Babs - if they get CONVICTED of a felony, they are AUTOMATICALLY disbarred!"

Alright - if you say so.

So the lawyer I am thinking about was NOT convicted of a felony even though she tried to get more money for herself through a fraudulent judgement - makes her case even more interesting - and more sinister actually in the respect that a judge would have overlooked her behavior - wonder why?

Anonymous said...

I am a victim of fraud..it is terrible what is going on out there....ramon gaston u are evil..god will deal with you for what you did to me and my family..I will find you

Anonymous said...

the bank involved was bank of america. the banker from bank of america was instrumental in pulling it off. he called it "mixing good credit with bad credit"

Anonymous said...

I know where you can find ramon gaston. he is hiding in the philippines.. is he wanted in america? will he get arrested if reported to the NYPD?

Anonymous said...

RAMON GASTON is still doing the same scam in the philippines. He is into the stock market now.

Anonymous said...

please let me know where i can report him

Anonymous said...

Ramon Gaston is in my watchlist, and he's here in Philippines.

post your email.

me said...

how do we get ramon gaston back to the us so he can pay for all the money he has taken from people and all the fraud he has done. i know where is mothers real estate is located and yes he is in the philipens. i wish there was someone who would contact us to build a case against him

Anonymous said...

Lenny and Richie sudler have made a living doing scams their whole life. Along with lenies wife maryann, I know Them personally and they beat me on pyramid scam 20 years ago,3500, I know I was ignorant to pyramid when a young kid. They also beat my dad out of several thousand. That is not it they also do trip and fall lawsuits on any commercial property with high insurance policies. They have never worked a day in his life and is around 70 years old and like 500 pounds. They also fence stolen jewelry and any illegal activity is his career. Although he comes up with one scam after the other,this guy is a full time criminal. He is also a informant and helped put mobsters in jail. He would meet detectives in his favorite diner,I think his partners should know not to trust him. I hope they rot in jail but I know he will sing his way out of it. They are financial predators and if they know you have money they will devise a scam to get it.

Anonymous said...

Ramon Gaston is here in the Philippines right now. He is an evil person.

Anonymous said...

Ramon Gaston is currently living in Boracay announcing to everyone that he is rich and will buy lands and properties. He even uses Red Cross for his fundraising scheme.

Anonymous said...

He is in Boracay and living has a house in Quezon city

Anonymous said...

Ramon Gaston living in boracay island running business Kasbah restaurant

Anonymous said...

Ramon Gaston living in boracay island selling drugs around.