IRS CAN CHASE YOU FOR BACK TAXES UP TO 30 YEARS! FACTS
Generally the Internal Revenue Service has 10 years to collect on past due income taxes. However, in one case the IRS actually went back 30 years to collect back payroll tax penalties. The internal revenue code (6672) places a 100% penalty on responsible persons to withhold from employee wages or if in fact they have withheld the taxes but fail to give it to the IRS.
The penalty can be collected from any responsible person, which includes officers of the company, directors and owners and even employees who have check signing authority and the authority to choose who to pay from the account. (Note: employees with check signing authority but with no authority on who to pay and can only pay as directed are possibly exempt.) Please be aware that check-signing authority does not mean you necessary write the checks but you are on the signature card. (ladj72612)
MORAL
If you have a tax issue (income or payroll), see your attorney or tax advisor before the IRS sees you. If the IRS contacts you are usually better off to let your attorney, CPA or tax advisor handle the problem. They are not emotionally involved and so in all probability will be more effective than you in resolving the problems.
CALIFORNIA MORTGAGE BROKER ARRESTED FOR MORTGAGE FRAUD
FACTS
On July 25, Donald Totten, formerly a former Rancho Santa Fe mortgage broker, was arrested by federal investigators on a warrant in Northern California for allegedly running a bank fraud scheme for years while operating in San Diego County.
Totten allegedly obtained $2.2 million in mortgage loans using false information and siphoned off hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sale of properties while operating a brokerage business in his former hometown east of Del Mar.
From about 2002 until 2007, Totten operated under the business names Integrated Home Loans, Integrated Lending, Money World, Island Financial and Little Angels Living Trust, among others, soliciting borrowers by advertising on television in and around San Diego and elsewhere, according to the FBI.
In or around early 2006, he allegedly arranged a series of real-estate transactions with a Chula Vista property owner who was struggling to make his mortgage payments, according to court papers.
In a complicated set of transactions, Totten first entered into a partnership with an investor from Carlsbad, promising to share the costs of maintenance of properties and then split the proceeds from an eventual resale, according to investigators. To purchase the real estate, Totten allegedly employed a straw buyer—his investor's girlfriend—who never intended to live in the properties despite certifications to the contrary on her loan applications, prosecutors allege.
In addition to providing significant down payments from his own funds, Totten allegedly falsified the straw buyer's loan applications and, among other things, inflated her income and assets in order to induce the financial institutions to grant the mortgages.
Totten and his loan processor, who worked for his brokerage business Money World, then allegedly sent false supporting documents to the mortgage lenders to bolster the bogus claims in the loan applications.
The complaint further charges Totten with purchasing four homes for the same straw buyer simultaneously by intentionally failing to disclose each lender that the borrower was in the process of buying multiple properties. Totten allegedly earned large commissions from the transactions and secretly arranged for the proceeds to be sent directly to his own bank accounts as kickbacks, according to the charging documents.
He allegedly concealed his receipt of the payments from the lenders by directing them to Island Financial, a company he controlled, taking in almost $192, 000 in kickbacks alone from the four sales.
According to the complaint, after the sales closed, Totten had the straw buyer sign over the deeds to the properties to a trust that he controlled, effectively obtaining ownership. Eventually, however, each of the four mortgages defaulted and the properties were foreclosed.
The charges stem from an ongoing criminal investigation conducted by the FBI, Internal Revenue Service and Federal Housing Finance Agency, Office of Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego. (citynwsserv72513)
MORAL
Did anyone notice how the federal prosecutor went back 12 years? The federal prosecutors can file criminal mortgage fraud charges for acts that occurred within 10 years of the indictment. That would include all the loans done in 2005 to 2007 that included “no doc” and “NINA”, “SISA” loans. So those that were or are involved in mortgage fraud I strongly suggest you see your attorney now not later. Remember, Totten is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. I trust he has the funds to retain legal counsel.
LAS VEGAS MAN SENTENCED TO OVER FOUR YEARS IN PRISON FOR MORTGAGE FRAUD
FACTS
On July 22, Oudom Somee, a local Las Vegas man who used friends and family members to serve as straw buyers to fraudulently purchase homes in the Las Vegas area so he could skim part of the loan proceeds for himself has been sentenced to 51 months in prison, five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay approximately $1.3 million in restitution.
Somee was convicted by a jury of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud; eight counts of wire fraud; one count of bank fraud; and one count of mail fraud.
He and his co-conspirators recruited persons with high credit scores, often friends and family members, to purchase homes in the Las Vegas area, which Somee would control. Somee told these straw purchasers that he would use their names and credit to buy the houses and that they would not have to pay the mortgages. Somee and the co-conspirators prepared the paperwork and submitted the loan applications to the financial institutions. These applications and the supporting documentation contained materially false and fraudulent information concerning the applicant’s identity, income, assets, and intent to occupy the homes to ensure that the straw buyers would qualify for the mortgage loans.
Somee orchestrated the transactions for the purpose of receiving cash at the closing of the transactions. The cash was disbursed either to Somee personally or to his company, Vegas Golden Investments Inc. Somee tried to conceal his role in the scheme by using bank accounts belonging to fictitious entities and others, including his sister. Eight homes were purchased in Henderson and Las Vega, using this scheme. The homes generally went into foreclosure after Somee made a few mortgage payments. The losses to the financial institutions were over $2.6 million. A loan officer and escrow officer were also charged and convicted in the scheme. (usattynv72313)
MORAL
The fraud is still ongoing and the arrests and convictions are still mounting. Anyone out there need to see an attorney? Do it now rather than after a person with a gold badge pays a visit. That way your attorney can best mitigate the problem if there is one.
TENNESSEE DEVELOPER AND A TITLE ATTORNEY SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON FOR MORTGAGE FRAUD
FACTS
On July 1, Jeffrey Whaley was sentenced to serve five years in prison for his federal convictions for wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering, all arising from a mortgage fraud scheme. Whaley’s sentencing followed title attorney Jerry Kerley’s four year sentenced imposed on June 6.
Whaley and Kerley were convicted of conspiring to defraud Citizens Bank, located in New Tazewell, Tenn., and SunTrust Mortgage Inc., located in Richmond, Va., through a mortgage fraud scheme. The conspiracy involved a scheme in which straw borrowers were induced to obtain mortgage loans in their names based on promises that they would not have to make a down payment or mortgage payments for the property, would receive cash at closing, and would share in the profit following a resale of the property.
As part of the conspiracy, materially false representations were made to Citizens Bank and SunTrust Mortgage, which, among other things, included false representations related to the straw borrowers’ source of funds for down payments and amounts recorded as “cash from borrower” on HUD-1 Settlement Statements and loan applications for the purpose of inducing Citizens Bank and SunTrust Mortgage to disburse the mortgage loan proceeds it had wired to and entrusted with Kerley’s title company.
Kerley and Whaley concealed eight real estate transactions from Citizens Bank and SunTrust Mortgage that the borrower did not provide at closing the money identified as the cash from borrower on the HUD-1 Settlement Statement. In those eight transactions, Citizens Bank and SunTrust Mortgage, in total, wired more than $6 million in loan proceeds to Guaranty Land Title Co. for disbursement. Kerley, a Tennessee licensed attorney, was the owner of Guaranty Land Title Co. where the fraudulent loans were closed.
Whaley conducted business through a company known as GBO Enterprises, which received substantial sums of money from the loan proceeds. Kerley and Whaley committed money-laundering offenses through financial transactions that involved proceeds from the mortgage fraud scheme. (usattedtn7113)
MORAL
Kind of repetitive, isn’t it?
THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. AN ATTORNEY SHOULD BE CONSULTED IF YOU DESIRE LEGAL ADVICE.
