Thursday, February 18, 2010

Pittsburgh Woman Gets Probation for Mortgage Fraud Scam

February 18, 2010 - United States Attorney Robert S. Cessar announced today, February 16, 2010, that Debra Phillips, a resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court in Pittsburgh to three years of probation on her conviction of wire fraud conspiracy in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme.

United States District Judge Donnetta Ambrose imposed the sentence on Phillips, age 51.

According to information presented to the court by Assistant United States Attorney Brendan T. Conway, Phillips, who was a licensed mortgage broker operating Equitable Lending, participated in a mortgage fraud conspiracy in which she submitted loan applications to lenders knowing that they contained false representations related to borrowers' assets. Phillips also brokered loans in which borrowers concealed from the lenders that they were borrowing money to make the down payments for real estate purchases. Mr. Cessar commended the Mortgage Fraud Task Force for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Phillips. The Mortgage Fraud Task Force is comprised of investigators from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and others involved in the mortgage industry. Federal law enforcement agencies participating in the Mortgage Task Force include the United States Secret Service; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations; the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General; and the United States Postal Inspection Service. Other Mortgage Fraud Task Force members include the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office; the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, Bureau of Consumer Protection; the Pennsylvania Department of Banking; the Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Enforcement and Investigation; and the United States Trustee's Office.

Mortgage industry members with knowledge of fraudulent activity are encouraged to call the Mortgage Fraud Task Force at (412) 894‑7550. Consumers are encouraged to report suspected mortgage fraud by calling the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Consumer Protection Hotline at (800) 441‑2555.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

debbie phillips used to be my land lord... when my lease ended i had to take her to court over failing to give me my security deposit. she claimed i had stolen a carpet and an air conditioning unit. (might i add it was an unfurnished apartment)in addition to claiming there were "huge repairs" to be made. she didnt realize that the next tennant she was getting also endedup surpriseingly beig a friend of mine. after learning that she never made even one repair or replacement...in addition to never supplying a reciept for anything i ended up takeing her to court over this and WON :-) .... however she failed to show-up to even one of the court dates and moved! ....as a result the courts could find no way to get me my 2200$ despite my victory... be aware when dealing with this woman.... she is a shifty as anyone who might happen to be on three years probation

Debra Phillips said...

Just to let everyone know I pled guilty because I didn't have enough money for my attorney to fight the charge. As far as the borrowers assets I had an email from Countrywide telling mortgage brokers to take 25% of the borrowers income (which was correct) and to put it on the application as an asset. Countrywide was the largest lender in the nation and they told us what they wanted on the application since they were the underwriting the loan as well as funding it. Funny that was never noted anywhere. I pled guilty to 1 count of wire fraud with $100 fine.

As far as the renters that I had yes they did steal an area rug as well as a bar and stools that went with it. The other reason why they didn't get their security deposit back was because there were burn marks in the carpet as well as they never ever cleaned the bathroom. The tub had never been clean all the years they lived there. It took me 4 gallons of straight bleach to get it clean. There were weed seeds all over the carpet from them smoking there stuff. Oh he also forgot to say about the third person they moved in with out me knowing which was a breech of contract.