Six Charged in Flaherty Funding Fraud Scheme

Six individuals in the New York City area — Manre Ebhomielen, Tyshe Bankston, Merrick Henry, Val Taylor, Jocelyn Joseph and Bernard Lawson — have been charged with defrauding Rochester, N.Y.-based mortgage company Flaherty Funding. According to Kathleen M. Mehltretter, U.S. attorney for the Western District of New York, in an effort to expand its business into the New York City area, Flaherty Funding contacted Queens, N.Y.-based mortgage company Vista Mortgage. Flaherty and Vista agreed that Vista would close its operation and some of its staff would become Flaherty employees, one of them being Ebhomielen who, along with the other defendants, allegedly participated in a scheme to obtain large mortgage loans from Flaherty by submitting false information and documents to the company during the loan approval process. The scheme involved five properties purchased in the New York City area. Ebhomielen, Henry and Taylor have been arrested. They will have their initial appearances in the New York City area and are then expected to appear in Rochester at a later date. The defendants could not be reached for comment.