DOJ: United States Files Complaint Against Nutter Home Loans for Forging Certifications and Using Unqualified Underwriters to Approve Government-Insured Reverse Mortgages - Gerrymandering & The False Claims Act

If you think this is bad, just wait until we get to Detroit.

Just on a side note, I also found these questionable, federal reverse mortgages with the State of Ohio, but, hey, what do I know?

I know that #sealsmatter.

#maytheheavensfall

The United States has filed a complaint under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 and the False Claims Act against Nutter Home Loans, f/k/a James B. Nutter & Co. (Nutter), for forging certifications and using unqualified underwriters to approve Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM), the Department of Justice announced today. 

“The HECM program benefits America’s seniors and our communities,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.  “The Department is committed to holding accountable those who violate the bedrock requirements of this important program.”

“Companies participating in federal programs must operate with honor and integrity,” said Acting U.S Attorney Michael R. Sherwin for the District of Columbia.  “This settlement sends a clear message that we will not tolerate fraud against programs designed to financially help our nation’s seniors.”

“Lenders who willfully disregard FHA requirements for HECM loans expose the program to significant financial losses that threaten the future availability of this important program to seniors,” said Rae Oliver Davis, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  “This complaint is evidence that we will tirelessly investigate allegations of abuses of the HECM program by FHA lenders.”

The FHA, part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), offers numerous mortgage insurance programs intended to help build and sustain strong communities across America.  The HECM program is a reverse mortgage program specifically for senior homeowners age 62 and older.  The program allows seniors to access the equity in their residences, and thereby age in place in their family home, through a mortgage agreement with a lender that is insured against loss by the FHA.  The United States’ complaint alleges that in order to significantly increase its loan production, Nutter used unqualified underwriters lacking the requirements established by HUD to review and approve HECMs that Nutter ultimately insured with the FHA.  Moreover, on other loans, Nutter forged the signatures of qualified underwriters to make it appear that a qualified underwriter had reviewed and approved the loan. 

This matter was investigated by the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, HUD, and HUD’s Office of Inspector General.  The claims asserted against the defendant are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Prelude To Detroit: Buzzfeed & CNN Find Out Through FOIA That You Cannot Hack A Handwritten Letter

Jason Leopold has yet to tell us how Cernovich came into possession of his Confidential Congressional Documents, which were published by Buzzfeed, to assassinate a character in the act of blasphemy.

So, who was this FBI Special agent who had to give White House Counsel the FBI director's email address, who then, generated a missive, got Trump to approve and sign, then deliver to a third party, a letter of termination,  on the other side of town, in under four minutes?

It is simply magical, like how Michigan Attorney General Bill *Smooches* Schuette was able to get Michigan Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr to file the Detroit Fake Ass Bankruptcy within minutes of him representing the State of Michigan in the Court of Claims.

I just do not know why I want to say JonesDay.

It is almost like filing a fake ass letter of resignation in D.C. when you are in Detroit.

Manafort had lots of Corporate Shape Shifting Rock Financial mortgages, you know, but rumor has it MERS is still under SIGTARP investigation and there is also an internal audit going on of the mysteriously roaming mortgages, but hey, what do I know?

#maytheheavensfall

New FBI Documents From Mueller’s Russia Investigation Reveal What Witnesses Said About Trump

BuzzFeed News filed a public records lawsuit to get the documents Robert Mueller used to write his report. Today, we are publishing the ninth installment of what witnesses in the investigation told Mueller’s team.

A new cache of witness interview summaries from special counsel Robert Mueller’s two-year probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election was released Monday in response to Freedom of Information Act lawsuits by BuzzFeed News and CNN.

Key Takeaways:

• These documents include five pages of Jared Kushner’s FBI interview summary — but all five are completely redacted. The FBI’s notations indicate that much of the material relates to an ongoing law enforcement investigation. Senior Assistant Special Counsel Andrew Goldstein told Kushner that answering a question with “I don’t recall” if he indeed did recall was considered a lie.
• Interview summaries for former deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland, former White House lawyer and senior Justice Department official James Burnham, and former Stone associate Randy Credico are also almost entirely redacted. McFarland and Credico’s summaries include markings that indicate redacted information relates to ongoing investigations.
• A chunk of the 412 pages of interview summaries relates to the special counsel’s investigation of Roger Stone. That material had been withheld during Stone’s prosecution, but now that it has ended — with a 40-month prison sentence that Trump commuted — the documents are being released. They are still heavily redacted.
• The documents indicate that in the fall of 2017, the accountant for Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer, was under the impression that Cohen was getting a White House job and “needed to liquidate his assets.” Cohen did not get an administration position.
• Michael Cohen used to refer to himself as “Trump’s pitbull” — before he flipped on his former boss and cooperated with Mueller — and according to his accountant, even had a statue of himself in his office bearing that title.
• An Ohio woman who caught the attention of the special counsel’s office because in 2016 she renamed her Twitter account @Guccifer2 — after the character credited with hacking and leaking Democratic emails — told the FBI she had created the account to see if it would be censored by Twitter.
• One witness whose name was redacted told investigators that before the Miss Universe pageant, Trump “would have all of the contestants line up on stage and then he would ask them questions about each other.” Most people would be cleared out of the room for this exchange, which was recorded, the witness said.

These documents, known as FBI 302s, shed light on what Trump administration officials and campaign staffers, as well as other people close to the president, told federal law enforcement agents about events during and after the campaign. In the last set of summaries that were released, one witness said people in Trump’s “orbit” didn’t care whom they hurt, believed their “deep state narrative,” “read books like ‘The Turner Diaries,’” and “downloaded military manuals from the internet.”

A person whose name was withheld on privacy grounds told investigators during an Aug. 11, 2017 interview that after the 2016 election Trump's "hardest" supporters were "shut out" of the new administration by the Republican National Committee, which cut a deal with Reince Priebus, the former White House chief of staff.

"They had many favors to repay the Committee. Trump gave Priebus a chance but Priebus didn't get the healthcare bill passed," the person told Mueller's investigators.

On Nov. 21, 2017, an FBI agent and two lawyers from Mueller’s office interviewed Jeffrey Getzel, who had worked as an accountant for Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen. Getzel was under the impression that Cohen was up for a job in the White House. He told investigators that roughly a month to a month and a half before the interview, someone (whose name is redacted) told Getzel that Cohen “was going to the White House and that COHEN needed to liquidate his assets.”

Getzel said he respected Cohen’s “significant position” in the Trump Organization. He noted to investigators that Cohen had a statue of himself in his office with the phrase, “Trump’s pitbull” written on it, a phrase that Cohen used to describe himself in the past, according to CNN.

A White House job never materialized, though. Cohen would eventually turn on his former boss and cooperate with Mueller’s investigation. He pleaded guilty to financial crimes unrelated to his dealings with Trump as well as campaign finance violations related to his role orchestrating hush-money payments to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump.

Getzel told investigators that Cohen was “an extremely sharp individual,” but also a “difficult client” who didn’t pay his bills on time. Cohen “resented paying taxes more than most people” that Getzel did work for, he said, and would pay penalties at the end of the year rather than paying quarterly estimated taxes.

Much of Getzel’s interview summary is redacted, but one section makes clear that he spoke with Mueller’s team about Essential Consultants, the corporate entity that Cohen created to facilitate the hush-money payments. Getzel said that if he’d known more about Essential Consultants, he would have “pushed harder to encourage COHEN to include his interest in the company” in a personal financial statement.

Getzel knew about another corporate entity that Cohen recently created, Michael D. Cohen & Associates P.C. Getzel told investigators that he didn’t think the company had “any real value” because its only client was Trump, ”who had a propensity for firing people.” The Washington Post reported Cohen used that business to pitch himself as a consultant to companies based on his close ties to Trump.

“As such,” the summary reads, “MDCPC was not really a company COHEN could sell to anyone.”

One of the interview summaries is of Cassandra Ford, an Ohio woman who caught the attention of the special counsel's office because in 2016 she renamed her Twitter account @Guccifer2, after the character credited with hacking and leaking Democratic emails. Ford's identity and the interest she attracted from Mueller's investigators were first revealed in October 2018, in an article in BuzzFeed News.

Ford was interviewed by the FBI in April 2018. In the six-page summary of that encounter, much of which is redacted on privacy grounds, she explained why she created @Guccifer2 and chose to give the impression that she was Russian.

"In creating her own twitter account @Guccifer2, Ford wanted to see of the account would be censored by Twitter, because of the notoriety of Guccifer2.0," the interview summary said. She went on to say that she chose the Volgograd time zone for her Twitter account in order to “appear to be Russian.”

Screenshot of the Mueller Memos
Obtained by BuzzFeed News
“Ford used the photo of Felix Dzerzhinsky as her Twitter profile photo. Ford read in the article on Smoking Gun that some of the documents released by Guccifer2.0 persona had the name of Dzerzhinsky on internet and thought he had a ‘creative background,’” the summary said.

In a separate interview, the Republican strategist Jason Miller, who was chief spokesperson of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, told the FBI he sought assistance from the Republican National Committee in 2016 poring over the hacked Democratic National Committee emails that WikiLeaks released. Moreover, he said he recalled hearing stories “about there potentially being a tape in which Trump used the ‘N-word."’ When the campaign learned it was the infamous Access Hollywood tape, Miller said he and the campaign went into damage control. He said he was responsible for disseminating the statement that Trump’s “grab em by the pussy” line “amounted to locker room talk.”

Although the Mueller investigation led to 37 indictments and seven convictions, Trump has aggressively sought to discredit it, repeatedly referring to it as a “witch hunt.” His efforts have been supported by Attorney General Bill Barr, who has intervened in several cases related to the investigation, including the prosecutions of former national security adviser Michael Flynn and political consultant Roger Stone. Last year, Barr also tapped a US attorney in Connecticut, John Durham, to investigate the origins of the Russia probe.

Last month — after Trump commuted Stone’s prison sentence and referred to the probe as a “hoax” and “witch hunt” that the “Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency” — Mueller broke his silence by writing an op-ed in the Washington Post defending his investigation. In June, in response to a separate lawsuit filed by BuzzFeed News and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a previously blacked-out portion of the Mueller report was disclosed; it showed that Mueller’s team suspected Trump had lied to investigators in his written responses to their questions about Stone.

The final 448-page Mueller report, released in April 2019, was the most hotly anticipated prosecutorial document in a generation. But it reflected only a tiny fraction of the primary-source documents that Mueller’s team had amassed over the course of its two-year probe; much of the content of the typewritten interview summaries taken by the special counsel’s office has never before been reviewed publicly. A month after the report was released, BuzzFeed News sued the FBI and the Department of Justice, seeking access to those records. That litigation was subsequently joined by CNN.

In October, a federal judge ordered the release of the documents, and the two agencies began releasing 302s last November. Under the court order, records must be disclosed every month; to date, the government has produced about 3,000 pages of summaries from interviews with more than 500 witnesses who spoke to Mueller’s team during the course of the investigation.

The vast majority of the 302s have been heavily redacted, leaving vast swaths of information about what witnesses told investigators obscured from view. BuzzFeed News has challenged some of those redactions, arguing in court that one category of exemption the government has cited to justify the withholdings was legally unfounded, politically motivated, and implemented solely to protect the president.

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Tales Of The New Crown: Senate Banking Committee & Mnuchin, Powell & The Latest #coloredrevolution TARP Public Private Partnership Plan To Save The Bond Markets

"When the money comes into the cities, the feds will activate a facility that will quickly leverage the money for the cities through corporate bonds to unlock primary and secondary bond markets so they do not crash, and the people will all cherish the Public Private Partnerships we own, which own the bond markets, so they do not collapse and everyone goes homeless, like the black and brown people, so they can borrow."

The Federal Reserve and the Treasury are going to "adapt" and "provide flexibility to the states".

I shall assume that flexibility has to do something with the next round of massive foreclosures, and, as such, another round of stealin' the children, land & vote, because it worked for TARP.

FUN FACT! MANY MUNICIPALITIES USED FAKE MORTGAGE & TAX FORECLOSED PROPERTIES AS LEVERAGE IN MUNICIPAL BONDS FOR PENSIONS IN COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS LIKE STRIP MALLS LIKE DETROIT

They have new bond ideas, you know.

PPP was been co-opted, where Public Private Partnerships has now become more endearingly fungible term for Personal Paycheck Protection.

You must watch this crap - "Profits over People."

On November 14, 2008, Elizabeth Warren was appointed by Harry Reid to chair the TARP Congressional Oversight Committee for TARP.  

TARP oversight was so messy, it turned into SIGTARP.

The government could never be transparent about TARP being spent because the Detroit Land Bank Authority never incorporated, which means they did not have a bank account, or a tax return, or contracts, which is how they operated behind closed doors.

Will these new facilities be vetted on their state instruments of authority to engage in commerce by ensuring they are incorporated before or after they get the money?

Perhaps, Elizabeth Warren recuse herself from this Senate Hearing, or we could just preserve her testimony, as a matter of record because, it is quite obvious she sucks at oversight, because I have made it perfectly clear, through multiple avenues of formal communications.

Blackrock, which got the operationalization contract as the financial agent of these U.S., funds, has a fealty to chinese Public Private Partnerships, whereby, the corporation has taken an oath of fealty to its licensed China entity, using the exact same talking points as Little Sisters of the Poors. 

We should definitely terminate BlackRock's right to keep and bear the arms of the U.S.

#perkinscoiesucks

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

SCOTUS: Trump Tax Returns - Stealin' The Land - Money Laundering - Magnitsky

First, there were oral hearings on stealin' the children.

Now, there is an oral hearing on stealin' the land.

SCOTUS examines arguments on releasing a president's tax returns to congress based on violating a subpoena for purposes of money laundering.

Deutsche Bank and Capital One were specifically mentioned.

These are the financial ratlines for money laundering real estate proceeds, like fake ass mortgages going through fake ass LLCs to find political campaigns.

#maytheheavensfall

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Tales Of The New Crown: Federal Reserve Buys Treasury Bonds & Mortgage Back Securities - Emergency Manager Emperor Pence & His Procurement Consortia Task Force Falsely Advises Trump About Google

First, this happened....

Then, this happened....

Then, this happened....

It seems the Emperor Pence is on rotation.

Trump focused on humans.

Emergency Manager Emperor Pence & His Procurement Consortia Task Force focused on profit.

My favorite chick seems to be a Predictive Modeling Crapper who was strongly encouraged to put a human spin on the subject of children, where she spoke of her own children.

Well, at least that was a start to get them to focus on the humans, and not revenue maximization for the Public Private Partnerships.

Google Sister Science Company Verily Launches Coronavirus Screening Website

Verily, Google’s sister company, has launched a screening website for those who want to get tested for COVID-19, but it’s limited to people in the Bay Area of California, the Verge reported.

“It’s more of a pilot program than a public health utility,” the website reported.

You have be 18 years of age or older, be able to speak English, and be a U.S. resident, according to the story. It resembles the program a Verily spokesperson described last week, “not the expansive triage system that the Trump administration promised,” the Verge said.

The initial question is “Are you currently experiencing severe cough, shortness of breath, fever, or other concerning symptoms?” the story said.

A “yes” answer prompts a message that the website is “not the right fit” and to seek medical attention.

“This screener was developed in partnership with government health officials,” a Verily spokesperson told the Verge. “The initial question is meant to ensure that anyone who is seriously ill does not come to our sites because they are not prepared to provide medical attention. We are early in this pilot and are going to be learning more that will help us refine this COVID-9 risk screening and testing.”

A “no,” answer prompts the user to sign in with a Google account and sign a consent form allowing data to possibly be shared with public health officials. A series of questions follows including questions about symptoms, travel and work responsibilities. It takes about three minutes to read and respond, the story said.

“Ultimately, our goal is to help local authorities expand testing access in California as the need continues to increase,” the company said. “The program is in its early stages, and we will take the time to assess operations at pilot sites in the Bay Area before rolling out to additional sites. We are working closely with Governor Newsom’s office, federal authorities and local public health authorities to ensure we have the right capabilities in place to help more people over the coming weeks.”

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Defrocked Lawyer Gets 70 Months For Real Estate Fraud - Guidelines For The Detroit Land Bank Authority

If this ex-lawyer is sentenced to 70 months for a real estate scheme, I wonder what the sentencing guidelines for the "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending) at the Detroit Land Bank Authority will be.

Always remember, if you do not live there, you cannot vote there.

#maytheheavensfall

Ex-lawyer to serve 70 months in prison for Birmingham, Bloomfield real estate scheme

A former Oakland County lawyer will serve 70 months in federal custody because of his role in a real estate scheme that caused Fifth Third Mortgage to release more than $8 million for upscale developments.

Paul Nicoletti, whose license to practice law was suspended in May, also must pay restitution totaling $5.3 million and serve two years of supervised release upon walking away from federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts sentenced Nicoletti, owner of a Bloomfield Hills title company, last week.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a jury returned guilty verdicts on one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and three counts of bank fraud, aiding and abetting, in May after a trial. He was indicted in 2015 for 2005 loan practices.

Officials said in their press release Nicolette was part of a scheme to obtain large mortgage loans from Fifth Third Mortgage, a lending arm of Fifth Third Bank.

The scheme involved real estate developers, a corrupt loan officer and Nicoletti working together to obtain large mortgage loans, purportedly for the purchase and development of high-end properties in Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham.

Numerous false statements were made during the application and closing process involving “straw buyers.

One or more conspirators would find and recruit “straw buyers” who would serve as mortgage loan applicants intent on purchasing properties the conspirators wanted to both purchase and develop.

The “straw buyers” viewed themselves as “investors.” They were paid a fee for the use of their names and credit histories on loan applications and real estate transactions and promised a portion of the expected profits from the properties being developed and resold.

The straw buyers had no intention of living at or exercising ownership and control of the properties.

This was contrary to representations in their applications and in closing documents.

False information pertaining to their income and assets was included in the mortgage loan applications.

Nicoletti’s role was as the title agent that, among other things, falsely verified that the borrowers made substantial down payments on properties.

Nicoletti apparently obtained cashiers checks that were issued after loan proceeds were released to his Continental Title account and which were funded by the loan proceeds themselves.

Names of the straw buyers appeared as “remitters,” and the checks were then re-deposited into Nicoletti’s Continental Title account, making it look like there were big down payments.

Prosecutors said Nicoletti destroyed relevant electronic and paper records when authorities discovered the fraud.

Nicoletti is one of several people convicted in the FBI’s investigation. A loan officer, mortgage broker,  appraiser and several of the real estate developers have previously been sentenced after entering guilty pleas relating to the scheme, according to the DOJ.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Wisconsin Orders Voter Purge Due To 200,000 People Who Had Moved

No mention of the foreclosures....

According to Wisconsin Patch:

In 2017, lenders started the foreclosure process on 383,701 properties and 8,446 of those properties were in Wisconsin, according to the report. Milwaukee, Kenosha, Waukesha, Brown and Rock counties had the highest number of properties where the foreclosure process had started, according to the report. Nationally, 318,165 properties were scheduled for foreclosure auction in 2017 and just 4,609 of those properties were in Wisconsin.

If you do not live there, you cannot vote there.

Gerrymandering at its finest.

Wisconsin Elections Officials Held in Contempt for Refusing to Purge Voters

A conservative group says removing names is merely following existing rules. Liberals say the move is aimed at dropping Democrats before the 2020 election.

Judge Paul V. Malloy of Ozaukee County Circuit Court ordered a daily fine against three Wisconsin election commissioners who haven’t implemented his previous ruling.

A Wisconsin judge held three state election commissioners in contempt on Monday and ordered them to proceed immediately with purging more than 200,000 people from the state’s voter rolls.

The ruling by Judge Paul V. Malloy of Ozaukee County Circuit Court doubled down on his finding last month that thousands of voters who are believed to have moved should have their registrations canceled in Wisconsin, a narrowly divided state that has become a focal point of the 2020 presidential battle.

The debate over whether voters should be purged from the rolls has become a proxy for the state’s tense partisan divide, and the purge itself has yet to be carried out because of a deadlock between evenly split Democratic and Republican wings of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Three Republicans on the appointed six-member commission want to remove the voters, while the three Democrats wanted to wait for an appellate court to weigh in.

“We’re deadlocked, time is running and time is clearly of the essence,” Judge Malloy said.

Hours later, on Monday evening, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a ruling that cleared the way for Judge Malloy’s decision that the rolls should be purged to stand, though the case was still being appealed.

The debate has drawn intense attention in part because it has played out in a state that could tip this year’s presidential election. President Trump, who plans to campaign in Milwaukee on Tuesday, carried Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016.

Conservatives said getting outdated information removed from the rolls was necessary to have clean registration lists and election integrity. Many liberals saw the effort as a blatant attempt to disqualify and confuse voters who would be likely to support Democratic candidates.

People who are removed from the rolls in error could re-register before or on Election Day.

Judge Malloy’s order, which includes a $250-per-day fine for the three commissioners who voted against the purge, could set up a dramatic meeting on Tuesday of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. The commission itself was also held in contempt and fined $50 per day. It remained unclear whether the ruling would sway any of the Democratic commissioners to vote for the purge to proceed.

Reid Magney, a spokesman for the commission, said it would be premature to comment in detail ahead of the meeting on Tuesday.

But liberal organizations said the motives behind the efforts were obvious.

“It’s no secret that this voter purge would target Wisconsin’s communities of color and young voters — the very people who are most energized to turn out in 2020 and win change for our neighborhoods,” Jennifer Berry, a Wisconsin resident who is a leader in a group pushing for a $15 minimum wage, said in a statement. “We’ll continue to fight back in the courts, in the streets, and by organizing so every Wisconsinite is ready and registered to vote.”

The conservative law group that brought the lawsuit targeting the registrations said the contempt finding was necessary after the commission failed to carry out Judge Malloy’s order.

“Court orders are not, and have never been, optional,” Rick Esenberg, the president of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, said in a statement.

When The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analyzed the list of voters that were believed to have moved, it found that about 55 percent of them lived in municipalities that Hillary Clinton carried in the 2016 election. The highest concentrations were mostly in college towns and the state’s two largest cities, Milwaukee and Madison.

Ann Jacobs, one of the commissioners who was held in contempt, said in an interview on Monday night that she was disappointed in the ruling and continued to believe her interpretation of the law was correct.

But would the contempt finding change her vote on Tuesday?

“I can’t say for certain, because obviously I’m always interested in hearing what my fellow commissioners have to say,” Ms. Jacobs said shortly before the Supreme Court ruling was announced. But she said she had “been reviewing the pleadings, and I have not seen anything recently that would make me think that the position we have taken is incorrect in any fashion.”

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Sometimes, Transposable Models Of Stealin' Are Not That Complex - Just Look for The Greed

Another transposable model.

Sometimes, stealin' is not that complex.

Audit: Ex-employee stole $7 million from housing agency in state's largest-ever fraud case

A former Pierce County Housing Authority employee stole nearly $7 million from the agency in the largest-ever fraud ever recorded for a local government in Washington state, an investigation has confirmed. (KOMO News)

TACOMA, Wash. – A former Pierce County Housing Authority employee stole nearly $7 million from the agency in the largest-ever fraud ever recorded for a local government in Washington state, an investigation has confirmed.

The investigation by the state Auditor's Office found that the authority’s former finance director, Cova Campbell, used a variety of schemes to misappropriate $6,948,277 in funds since 2016, officials said Monday. The Auditor's Office detected the thefts during a routine financial audit, when auditors questioned wire transfers of large sums of money out of state.

The results of the investigation are being forwarded to the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the FBI, which is conducting a criminal investigation into the case.

A former Pierce County Housing Authority employee stole nearly $7 million from the agency in the largest-ever fraud ever recorded for a local government in Washington state, an investigation has confirmed. (KOMO News)


The Pierce County Housing Authority, which provides affordable housing for low-income families, ended the finance director’s employment in August after the fraud scheme was discovered.

"This was a shameful breach of the public trust that harms the very people who need affordable housing options the most," said State Auditor Pat McCarthy.

The auditor's investigation also discovered how the thefts were carried out, and the Housing Authority has now implemented new, stricter controls to prevent it from happening again, said Housing Authority Chair Sally Porter Smith.

According to investigators, the former finance director first began making fraudulent purchases on the housing authority’s credit cards in March 2016.

In July 2016, she made the first of 78 transactions that disguised transfers to her own account as batched payments to legitimate vendors. In this scheme, she substituted her own bank account number for the vendors’ account numbers, according to the Auditor's Office.

In 2018, she transferred housing authority funds to a bank in Oklahoma, where she had purchased property the same month. In 2019, she began directly wiring housing authority funds into her personal Washington bank account, the investigation found.

The former finance director admitted to investigators that she was responsible for the misappropriations - but claimed she had been directed by the housing authority’s executive director to misappropriate the funds and to provide him with a share in cash. The investigators found no evidence to support that assertion.

State Auditor Pat McCarthy announces the result of the investigation into the $7 million fraud scheme{p}{/p}

The investigation also revealed concerted efforts by the former finance director to circumvent accountability and detection.

Details, including a breakdown of the amount obtained through each scheme, can be found in the full fraud investigation report, which can be found here.

Pierce County Housing Authority Audit by Beverly Tran on Scribd

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Will Talyor Mayor Rick Sollars Blow The Whistle To Reduce His Sentencing?

Will Rick Sollars snitch on Shady Awad?

Will Rick snitch on the hunting lodges?

Will Rick snitch on the Rotary Clubs?

Stay tuned.

Taylor mayor claims innocence, appears in federal court for bribery and wire fraud charges

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A 33-count indictment is damning alleging Taylor Mayor Rick Sollars and a former city official were on the take.

Charges claim Sollars received personal benefits not to mention money, so a business man could get his hands on tax foreclosed properties in the city. Sollars appeared in federal court downtown Thursday.

Taylor mayor appears in federal court for indictment

Charges claim Rick Sollars received personal benefits not to mention money, so a business man could get his hands on tax foreclosed properties in the

"I am not happy about any of it," said Sollars. "But again, I am innocent and I look forward to putting this behind me."

Allegations include $30,000 of renovations for Rick Sollars' home and $11,000 for his lake house, $12,000 for items like a new refrigerator, stove, $1,600 cigar humidor amid other items on the list - including thousands of dollars.  That cash is allegedly what businessman Shady Awad gave Taylor's mayor so Awad's company could get its hands on tax foreclosed properties owned by the city.

Awad's real estate development company Realty transition LLC allegedly received these properties and the feds say Jeffrey Baum, Taylor's community development manager, was purportedly also taking bribes from Awad and another developer in exchange for help acquiring these tax foreclosed properties.

Awad allegedly texted the contractor doing work on Sollars' lake house writing "My relationship with Rick is worth $1 million ... so whatever it takes I'll pay for it."

FOX 2: "How do you defend the text messages between Mr. Awad and this contractor who was allegedly doing some free work on your house?"

"I haven't read the text messages as I just said, I will read them tonight and tomorrow and go over the details with my attorney," Sollars said.

Sollars and Baum are also charged with 18 counts of wire fraud, alleging the two defrauded donors to Sollars' campaign fund in several ways like the mayor telling supporters to write checks directly to a market where events never happened.

Sollars and Awad were arraigned Thursday and released on bond. Federal prosecutors tell me Baum is expected in court on Monday.

Sollars was elected in 2013 and is in his second term as mayor following a stint as councilman.

Taylor City Hall Raided Indictment by Beverly Tran on Scribd

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Ron Brierley Being Defrocked From Knighthood For His Trafficking Tiny Humans Transposable Model

 Ron Brierley being knighted

When you own a corporation, you are held to a higher realm of laws, known as Ethics.

Upon being defrocked, you fall from the heavens to be tried by the laws of the land, and in this instance, it looks like the laws surrounding the commerce of trafficking tiny humans.

He was a knight.

He stole the children's legacies in reverse mortgages, which is one of the first asset forfeiture operations of "The Poors" (always said with clinched teeth.)

TRANSLATION: WHEN GRANDMA AND GRAMDPA HAVE THEIR PENSIONS STOLEN AND EXFILTRATED OVERSEAS THROUGH FAKE ASS CHILDREN'S TRUSTS, THEY WILL SELL THEIR GRANDCHILDREN'S LEGACIES SO THEY DO NOT HAVE TO EAT DOG FOOD, WHEREBY THE DISTRICTS ARE REDRAWN, PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE SHUTTERED, AND THEY CAN CONTROL THE VOTE BY INSTALLING THEIR OWN CHRISTENED CITY, COUNTY & STATE ADMINISTRATORS TO IMPLEMENT MORE CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURE LAWS & POLICIES PASS BY THEIR CHOSEN "ELECTED ONES".

It is just another transposable model for stealin' the children, land & votes.

Gerrymandering.

Heartland buys reverse mortgage firm

#maytheheavensfall

Millionaire businessman Sir Ron Brierley charged with possessing child pornography

Ron Brierley 

Sir Ron Brierley was trying to board a flight to Fiji when he was arrested. (Supplied: Alchetron)

Multi-millionaire businessman and one of Australia's most feared corporate raiders Sir Ron Brierley has been charged for alleged possession of child pornography.

Key points:
Sir Ron Brierley founded one of New Zealand's biggest investment firms
He was allegedly found with child pornography on his laptop at Sydney Airport

The 82-year-old was granted conditional bail and will continue living at his Point Piper mansion
The 82-year-old investor was arrested at Sydney International Airport after being stopped by Border Force officials as he was attempting to board a flight to Fiji.

NSW Police have been investigating the matter since August after an anonymous tip-off from a member of the public.

https://www.heartland.co.nz/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartland_Bank

The financier was allegedly found with a "large amount" of child pornography images on his laptop when detectives seized his carry-on luggage about 6.30am yesterday.

Mr Brierley, who is a former trustee of the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust, was taken to Mascot Police Station where he was charged with six counts of possessing child pornography.

The New Zealand-born businessman was given strict conditional bail, including that he continue living at his Point Piper mansion, and is due to appear before the Downing Centre on February 10, 2020.

A car is parked outside a nice house with palm trees and a blue sky
PHOTO: Sir Ron Brierley's Point Piper home. (ABC News: Rani Hayman)
With no capital, Sir Ron founded R. A Brierley Investments in 1961, which grew to become one of New Zealand's biggest companies.

https://www.scgt.nsw.gov.au/

In 1988, he was knighted for his "services to business management and the community".

Mr Brierley mentored many Australian business leaders, including BHP director Malcolm Broomhead and the co-founder of Afterpay, Anthony Eisen.

Mr Brierley stepped down from his last role in a listed company in June this year when he retired as chairman of Mercantile Investments.

"Due to age and health issues, I can no longer give the total commitment to the company which it requires and which shareholders deserve," Mr Brierley said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange earlier this year.

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Hey, FBI & SIGTARP: Can Corporations Be Money Mules, Too?

Not just your bank account could be fueling crime, but also your church, your investment broker, your 401K, any and all public & state pensions, and of course, federal pensions.

In Detroit I like to call this creature of stealin' the children, land & votes, or rather the Detroit Land Bank Authority.

Either way, stop funding crime, particularly the foreign invasion of our great nation.

Praise the lord.

But, if humans can be money mules, is there a possibility foreign corporations, functioning under fake ass Public Private Partnerships, like the Detroit Land Bank Authority, can, also, be placed in such a similarly constructed class based animus, too?

I officially decided today to be "Pick on SIGTARP" day, because there was a fleeting moment in House Judiciary Impeachment Hearings - Day 2 - where the powers of the U.S. Treasury accidentally, slipped from the tongues of the members, but that moment was quickly remedied when Matt Gaetz dropped Hunter Biden's crackpipe.

So many artifices, so many machinations of gerrymandering...

Your Bank Account Could Be Fueling Crime
Money Muling Is Illegal and Helps Criminals

Like many Americans, Aaron Cole and his wife had been able to save up a nest egg through the rising value of their home. But after six years there and the births of their two children, the Oregon couple decided to sell and use the equity they had built up to purchase a slightly larger place.

After they had sold their current home, Aaron Cole received word that his title company would be in touch soon with the wire instructions for sending the down payment required to close on the new house. When an email arrived on December 4, 2018, from what appeared to be the title company, Aaron's wife went to the bank and sent $122,850 to the account number provided in the message.

A few days later, the title company called to tell Aaron Cole it was time to wire over the down payment. Was he ready for the account information?

It took the representative from the title company just moments to figure out what had happened: The Coles had been the victims of a business email compromise scam and had wired their money to a criminal who had spoofed the title company’s email address and sent them fake wire instructions.

The family’s savings was gone. Their down payment had been funneled into one account and then broken up and sent to four other banks. Within days, the money would be on its way out of the country and into the control of those who carried out the scheme.

The Cole family had already sold their existing home with a move out deadline of December 23. Now, they couldn’t complete the sale of their new house, had little left in savings, and in a few weeks would have nowhere to call home.

“I’m never at a loss for words,” said Aaron Cole. “When this happened, I couldn’t come up with the words to tell my wife.”

What happened to the Coles was due to the deliberate actions of the online criminals who compromised an email account to steal from them, but the criminals could not have carried out the scheme without the involvement of money mules.

The FBI defines a money mule as a person who transfers illegally acquired money on behalf of or at the direction of another person. Money mules often receive a commission for the service or provide assistance because they believe they have a trusting or romantic relationship with the individual who is asking for help moving money.

“Mules are laundering money for people who have done some major damage. Who’s losing the money? It’s average people. It’s small companies.”
Yaqub Prowell, special agent, FBI Portland
Money mules may or may not be aware of the role they are playing in a crime, but the actions they take do serious harm to people like the Coles and millions of other innocent victims of online scams and frauds.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received more than 20,000 complaints in 2018 from victims of business email compromise alone. These victims reported losses of more than $1.2 billion.

“Mules are laundering money for people who have done some major damage,” said FBI Special Agent Yaqub Prowell, who worked the Coles’ case through the FBI’s Portland Field Office. “Who’s losing the money? It’s average people. It’s small companies.”

Aaron Cole will be the first to tell you how devastating the loss was. “The equity in the house was our way to move forward,” he said of the theft. “I put myself back 15 years.”

In the Coles’ case, the title company generously helped the family cover their down payment in exchange for Aaron Cole’s help alerting others about business email compromise. The title company was seeing homeowners hit with this crime despite the warnings about fraud and account security they put on every document they send to clients.

Aaron Cole, like many people, skimmed right over those messages in the mass of paperwork that accompanies the process of buying and selling a home. Cole said, “I grew up with computers. I know not to click on anything suspicious. Nothing about this looked suspicious.”

The title company hopes that a human face and a very human story about what can happen will make more people aware of the crime and on guard against it.

Prowell, who spent days tracking the path the Coles’ money made from bank to bank, was successful in seizing some of the assets and saving about 30 percent of the funds the Coles lost. But those assets, because of the legal process involved, would not have made it back to the Coles fast enough to save their home. “The quickest forfeiture process I’ve seen has been about 12 months,” said Prowell.

He stressed that even though it was a good ending for the Cole family, the title company will absorb the rest of the losses. “This is a small title company,” Prowell said “But it was a small company with a heart.”

Prowell is also hopeful Aaron Cole’s story will raise awareness about business email compromise and the need to be vigilant about online security.

Cole said he used the same password for several email and social media accounts and hadn’t changed them for a while. The criminals could have been monitoring his accounts for years using a simple software that watches for keywords that may indicate money is about to move.

In addition to strong passwords and better awareness, Prowell says people should revert to old fashioned means of verification before sending money. “Go check in person,” he said. “Or pick up the phone and make a call.” 

But Prowell also wants those who act as money mules to understand the harm they are doing to others and the peril they are exposing themselves to. First and foremost, acting as a money mule is illegal. Those performing the function can face criminal prosecution, damage to their credit standing, and financial liability for the money they move.

Money Mule Awareness Booklet
People who agree to allow others to use their bank accounts or open new accounts for these purposes are also linking themselves to criminal organizations. One of the money muling groups involved in Aaron Cole’s case was part of a separate FBI investigation into financial and violent crimes. “These groups are not always just fraudsters,” Prowell said. “That particular group was also dangerous.” 

“If you send and receive money at someone else’s request—especially someone you’ve never met—you are likely helping criminals to steal from hardworking people, senior citizens, and small businesses,” said Supervisory Special Agent James Abbott of the FBI’s Money Laundering, Forfeiture, and Bank Fraud Unit.

During a recent eight-week campaign to combat money mules, the FBI partnered with other federal law enforcement agencies to interview more than 550 individuals. They served more than 500 warning letters on individuals who served as money mules for fraud schemes. The letters informed recipients that they could be prosecuted if they continue.

Additionally, more than 30 individuals were criminally charged, in part, for their roles in receiving victim payments and providing the fraud proceeds to accomplices. Abbott stressed that banks and law enforcement take note of unusual account activity: “Anyone who continues to participate in this type of activity should be prepared to hear from the FBI or our partners.”

Learn more about money mules and help raise awareness by sharing the facts through #DontBeAMule.

Signs You May Be Acting as a Money Mule

• You receive an unsolicited email or contact over social media promising easy money for little to no effort.
• The “employer” you communicate with uses web-based email (such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, or Outlook).
• You are asked to open up a bank account in your own name or in the name of a company you form to receive and transfer money.
• As an employee, you are asked to receive funds in your bank account and then “process funds” or “transfer funds” via a wire transfer, ACH, mail, or money service business (such as Western Union or MoneyGram).
• You are allowed to keep a portion of the money you transfer.
• Your duties have no specific job description.
• Your online companion, whom you have never met in person, asks you to receive money and then forward the funds to an individual you do not know.
• How to Protect Yourself
• Do not accept any job offers that ask you to use your own bank account to transfer their money. A legitimate company will not ask you to do this.
• Be wary when an employer asks you to form a company to open up a new bank account.
• Never give your financial details to someone you don’t know and trust, especially if you met them online.
• Be wary when job advertisements are poorly written with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.
• Be suspicious when the individual you met on a dating website wants to use your bank account for receiving and forwarding money.
• Perform online searches to check the information from any solicitation emails and contacts.
• Ask the employer, “Can you send a copy of the license/permit to conduct business in my county or state?”

How to Respond

• If you have received solicitations of this type, do not respond to them and do not click on any links they contain. Inform your local police or the FBI.
• If you believe that you are participating in a money mule scheme, stop transferring money immediately and notify your bank, the service you used to conduct the transaction, and law enforcement.

How to Protect Yourself Against Business Email Compromise
Improve account security: Create strong passphrases for all online accounts. Do not use the same passphrase for more than one account. Change passphrases frequently.

Verify email addresses: Carefully check the address of any message that contains a link, attachment, or instructions. Criminals will make small changes to email addresses to make them appear as if they have come from a trusted source.

Double check: Never make a purchase, send a payment, or make a financial transaction based on email instructions only. Follow up on such requests by checking in person if possible or making a phone call. Do not use the phone numbers provided in the email in question.

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