Financial Fraud

Jerome Walter Kiggundu Found Guilty of Mortgage Fraud

After being convicted of fraudulently borrowing nearly $3 million to refinance a downtown Augusta apartment complex before seeking bankruptcy protection when facing foreclosure, an Augusta man faces up to three decades in jail. After a two-day trial in U.S. District Court, Jerome Walter Kiggundu, 37, the registered agent and controlling member of Nakaddu LLC, a/k/a Kiggun Properties LLC, was found guilty of bank fraud, bankruptcy fraud, and false statements under oath. Kiggundu faces a maximum term of 30 years in jail, as well as significant penalties and reparations, as well … Read more

Arnold Breitkreutz Wants To Withdraw His Guilty Plea

Arnold Breitkreutz, an alleged Ponzi scheme scam artist, has asked his counsel to retract his guilty plea in a multimillion-dollar mortgage scam. Cale Ellis-Toddington, Breitkreutz’s new defense attorney, said he had submitted an application on his client’s behalf to have his plea dismissed. As a result, Breitkreutz’s former lawyer, Eleanor Funk, asked to be and was removed as counsel of record. But in a prepared statement released through his new lawyer, Breitkreutz said he wasn’t casting aspersions at Funk for his March guilty plea to a charge of fraud. “My … Read more

Natalie Nava, Amir Khoshnevis, Aaron Pierson, Alejandra Orozco, Maria De La Paz, Payom Ilkhanipour, and Ryan Pelzer Charged in Mortgage Fraud Scheme

Seven people were charged in involvement with a mortgage scam that authorities say defrauded 79 people out of $247,000 in Tustin and Santa Ana. Natalie Nava, 36, Amir Khoshnevis, 35, Aaron Pierson, 33, Alejandra Orozco, 27; Maria De La Paz, 24; Payom Ilkhanipour, 34; and Ryan Pelzer, 30, are charged with numerous felony charges of conspiracy, money laundering, and grand theft, with sentence enhancements of $100,000 to $500,000. According to Orange County District Attorney’s Office investigator Henry C. Griffin Jr., the offenders worked for Regional Community Services, which had locations … Read more

Ronald McCord Pleads Guilty to Mortgage Fraud

The president of the Mortgage Bankers Association in the late 1990s, who was also the owner of Oklahoma City-based bank and lender First Mortgage Company, pled guilty to five charges of bank fraud, money laundering, and misrepresentations to a banking institution. Over the course of three years, a federal grand jury in Oklahoma’s Western District suspected Ronald McCord of cheating mortgage companies Spirit Bank and Citizens State Bank, Fannie Mae, and others. McCord admitted guilt on May 11 to “out of trust” peddling upwards of $14.1 million in Spirit and … Read more