Mortgage Scammers Get A new "Home"

As of yesterday, four mortgage relief scam artists are finding out that if caught, they'll be getting free rent in a cozy room with bars on the windows for six to eight months each. The men, all from California, Jacob John Cunningham, 26; John D. Silva, 28; Justin Dennis Koelle, 23; and Dominic Adam Nolan, 32; all pleaded guilty to felony counts of conspiracy to collect illegal upfront fees and conspiracy to commit theft by false pretenses. Cunningham, Silva, and Koelle all pleaded guilty to two felonies, while Nolan pleaded guilty to one. In addition to the jail time, they also were handed five years probation, and a ban on working on loan mods or consulting about mortgages. Additionally, they must make restitution, the amounts to be determined in future hearings. They had fraudulently taken more than $130,000 from hundreds of homeowners, promising that they would be able to obtain loan mods. They claimed a 95% success rate. After receiving the fees from the victims, they neither obtained the mods or returned the fees. Once this scam had more or less run its course, they began to offer refinancing deals. These cost the borrowers 2.8%, and once the fees were paid to the scammers, they would provide Letters of Conditional Approval on servicers' letterhead. The investigations were handled by the Inspector General's Office of TARP, assisted by the Secret Service and various local law enforcement agencies. If you were scammed by any or all of these four, you probably should get in contact with the Inspector General at TARP.