A federal indictment said 11 defendants participated in a fraudulent loan modification business that took advantage of homeowners who were having difficulty paying their monthly mortgage payments.
During an 18-month period that began in June 2008, the indictment said Andrea Ramirez operated 21st Century Real Estate Investment Corp. and several related businesses as bogus loan modification companies that promised to lower a struggling borrower’s mortgage payments in exchange for an advance fee.
The indictment claims that Ramirez and her co-conspirators told distressed homeowners that because 21st Century was a program sponsored by the U.S. government, it could obtain new mortgages with specific interest rates and reduced payments as well as negotiate loan modifications with the homeowners’ lenders. Homeowners were also told by company employees to stop making their mortgage payments and to cease all communication with their lenders.
Occasionally, Ramirez and other 21st Century employees told homeowners that 21st Century was using their fees to make mortgage payments, when in fact the defendants were simply keeping the homeowner’s money.
Ramirez and the other 21st Century employees contacted distressed homeowners through cold calls, newspaper ads and mailings, and various 21st Century-controlled websites that advertised loan modification services.
As a result of this alleged scheme, more than 4,000 financially distressed homeowners lost at least $7 million in fees paid to the company, based in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Furthermore, many of the victims also lost their home to foreclosure.
“The housing crisis provided fraud artists a new avenue to exploit people in financial distress,” said United States Attorney André Birotte Jr. “Many of the victims in this alleged scheme were in desperate financial straits, and shameless financial predators promised relief they could not deliver. As a result, many homeowners went into foreclosure and now have to deal with the ramifications of losing their homes.”
Besides Ramirez, the other 10 defendants named in the indictment are: Christopher George, Michael Bates, Crystal Buck, Michael Parker, Catalina Deleon, Hamid Shalviri, Yadira Padilla, Mindy Holt, Iris Pelayo and Albert DiRoberto. All these conspirators have been arrested except for Parker.
All 11 defendants are charged with nine felony counts—five counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy. Each count in the indictment carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment.
