OHIO says enough !! - 9 Indicted from ARGENT MORTGAGE

UPDATE (6) (latest) New charges filed against some (HERE)
Others may be "singing" in an attempt to negotiate settlements !
NEXT court date: Trial scheduled for Monday 1-09-2012

UPDATE (5) discovery delays & legal Jiu Jitsu delay 10-13-11
trial (re-scheduled to 11-14-11) be continued until January 9, 2012

UPDATE (4)  Pre Trial continued until Thursday 10-13-11

UPDATE (3)  Pre Trial continued until Thursday 9-15-11

UPDATE (2)  Pre Trial re-set for Thursday 8-25-11

UPDATE (1)  13 Arraigned in Cleveland Ohio 7/7/2011 - (CLICK HERE)

Bill Mason*

"[This is] the first time in Ohio and...few instances nationwide that a mortgage fraud investigation has led to CRIMINAL CHARGES against [Argent Mortgage] employees {and} of a sub prime lender. The securitization and selling of these fraudulent, sub prime loans to Wall Street typified the rampant greed of the industry that ultimately led to the financial crisis " said Cuyahoga County prosecutor, Bill Mason.

The City of Cleveland, through prosecutor Bill Mason and the Cuyahoga County Mortgage Fraud Task Force, handed down 9 indictments to former employees of the now defunct lender. Three (3) Argent "Account Executives" helped coach independent Mortgage Brokers (Dale Adams, Nick Myles, and James Sims) located in Northeast Ohio with creating mortgage applications that would be approved by 2 Supervisors and 4 Underwriters all working in concert from Argent's Rolling Meadows office located in Chicago.

The following defendants were employed by Argent Mortgage Company:

Denise (O'Brock) Kobus - Argent Account Manager

Michael Scola - Argent Account Manager

Angela Pasternak - Argent Account Manager

Terry Forbes - Argent Supervisor

Gerald Steinkuehler - Argent Supervisor

Dee Anne Shaw - Argent Underwriter

Kirk Porter - Argent Underwriter

David Mongriotis - Argent Underwriter

Erin Foley-Ottaviano - Argent Underwriter

Linda Warner and Gerald Spuzzillo - Ohio Appraisers, were indicted for falsifying appraisals on real estate deals submitted to both Argent and Long Beach Mortgage

ARGENT MORTGAGE came out of nowhere and quickly became Cleveland's #1 lender (2004) while originating over 10,000 loans in just a three year span (2002-2005)

This Orange County California headquartered mortgage company made BILLIONS in profits created from high-risk and sub-prime loans which they peddled to inner city Cleveland homeowners. Now - seven years after ARGENT MORTGAGE became #1 lender in Cleveland - street after street of local neighborhoods are lined with blighted and abandoned homes. Entire communities have been wiped out!

The high-profile mortgage company sponsored Indy Car driver - Danica Patrick.

        

WE WERE WARNED !! Yet...No one did a thing!!!

SHOCKING, STUNNING, and ACCURATE predictions are quotes from a now almost 3 year old (2008) article (linked below):

"We called it early... Nobody listened,"There was blood on the streets of Cuyahoga County. But it wasn't until there was blood on the streets of Wall Street that anyone cared."
(Jim Rokakis - Cuyahogo County Treasure)

'This is going to become an epidemic,' and they sat on their hands. For whatever reason, they didn't act. But if you were looking, the handwriting was on the wall. If you were looking, it was obvious something was wrong."
(Tony Stevenson, a staff attorney with Housing Advocates Inc. in Cleveland)

"Regulators allowed loose lending to keep the economy going. All the regulators knew what was going on."
(Raj Aggarwal, dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Akron)

For years the city of Cleveland had been WARNING the "asleep-at-the-wheel" State and Federal regulators of what was to come.  Home prices become so outrageous in value, that during a 6 year period, median home prices (in Cleveland) rose 56%, according to county real estate records, while the city's population dropped 4% ...during this same period. It didn't make sense!

*The case involves 100 properties in Cuyahoga and Summit counties that were financed with nearly $13 million in Argent loans and sold by Uri Gofman, the owner of Cleveland-based Real Asset Fund, one of his companies. The new investigation grew out of a Cuyahoga County case being prosecuted against Uri Gofman, who was indicted in August 2008, in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, for his role in what was then said to be one of the biggest mortgage fraud schemes in U.S. history. It is said to involve 453 homes purchased with $44 Million in FRAUDulent loans and $31million in siphoned profits.



Related Links:

As Decade Dawned signs of Crisis:   9-28-2008 - Roger Mezger

*Former Employees of Sub-Prime Lender Indicted:  6-23-2011 - Mark Gillispie