Broker convicted of immigrant loan fraud
By John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Originally published 01:11 p.m., July 18, 2008
Updated 01:11 p.m., July 18, 2008
Arvin Weiss, 58, has been found guilty of mortgage fraud and witness tampering, U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said today.
A U.S. District Court jury found Weiss, of Englewood, guilty late Wednesday in a complicated mortgage fraud scheme that primarily targeted Hispanics. Many of the people involved were in the U.S. illegally, Eid said, and did not understand the mortgage loan process.
“Commit mortgage fraud and you may land in federal prison,” Eid said in a statement. “Enough is enough.”
Weiss faces up to five years in federal prison and/or a $250,000 fine per count of mail fraud and wire fraud.
In addition, he faces up to 10 years and/or a $250,000 fine per count for witness tampering.
The guilty verdict came after a 13-day trial before U.S. District Judge Lewis T. Babcock. The jury deliberated for one day. Weiss is free on bond.
A status conference is scheduled for Oct. 22, when Babcock is scheduled to set a sentencing date.
Weiss was found guilty of 16 counts: eight counts of mail fraud, five counts of wire fraud and three counts of witness tampering. Other counts had been dismissed earlier in the case.
Weiss was indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver on April 20, 2005. The trial began on June 23, 2008.
According to the indictment, as well as facts presented during trial, from June 1998 through January 2002, Weiss devised a scheme to fraudulently obtain money and property from mortgage companies that funded federally insured loans.
Weiss was a licensed real estate broker buying and selling properties as Reserve Capital Funds Inc.
He acquired numerous single-family residences in the Denver area at low prices.
Within a few months, and after some improvements had been made, Weiss resold the properties at substantially higher prices to unsophisticated low-income buyers.
The buyers Weiss targeted were Hispanics who knew little or no English, many of whom were living in the U.S. illegally.
Many of Weiss’ buyers did not understand the mortgage loan process but wanted to purchase their own homes even though they could not legitimately qualify for mortgages.
Weiss arranged for buyers to acquire mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration so they could purchase homes his company owned.
Knowing that the buyers he targeted could not afford to buy houses or legitimately qualify for home loans, Weiss allegedly arranged for false information about the buyers’ qualifications and the sources of their down payments to be provided to various mortgage companies and HUD, making it appear that the buyers were qualified to receive FHA-insured loans when they were not.
Operating under the name of Fairfax Homes Ltd., Fairfax Express Corp. or Fairfax, all entities controlled by Weiss, the defendant would represent to prospective buyers that he had houses or could find houses the buyers could purchase, and that he and an assistant would take care of all the necessary paperwork.
The defendant also told buyers that they would not have to make the down payments from their own funds, despite a requirement by HUD to do so.
The buyers would provide their personal information directly to him or an assistant.
Weiss would then provide information about the borrowers — some of which was true, but material portions of which were false — to the mortgage companies and HUD. He would inject false information about the borrowers’ qualifications when necessary to enable them to qualify for the loans.
Weiss would secretly provide the funds for the down payments for the borrowers to be presented by the borrowers at closing.
Weiss signed numerous false certifications that he had not and would not pay or reimburse the borrowers for any part of their cash down payments.
Weiss usually sold his properties for two or three times what Reserve Capital had recently paid for them.
The buyers typically did not have the option of competitive pricing and did not contest his asking price because they could not legitimately qualify for the loans.
In some cases, Weiss did not disclose the true purchase price to the buyers until closing.
In many cases, by encouraging the buyers to move into the properties rent free before closing, Weiss minimized the possibility that they would back out of their purchase agreements when they were informed of the properties’ true cost.
The case was investigated by the Office of the Inspector General for Housing and Urban Development and the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Linda Kaufman and Tim Neff.
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July 18, 2008
5:14 p.m.
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raoul writes:
the only victims pertaining to this story are the 97% of mortgage-paying certified real Americans who are still making payments on time.
No "net economic benefit" to be found here when these illegals were party to scamming the system (once again) along with the scumbag broker?
RMN's Rebchock says: "The buyers Weiss targeted were Hispanics who knew little or no English, many of whom were living in the U.S. illegally.
Many of Weiss’ buyers did not understand the mortgage loan process but wanted to purchase their own homes even though they could not legitimately qualify for mortgages."
Only in America can you be ignorant of the law when it's convenient, but break the law when it's convenient, not speak the language and make yourself to be a victim and demand to be treated with more dignity.
Kiss my arse
July 18, 2008
6:22 p.m.
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fastnloose writes:
Who would ever dream, of going to a foreign country,entering illegally,and have the audacity to by a home? I'd be afraid they would take all my possessions and home.Plus put me in jail for 5 years or longer.Only in America would I have rights,and get sympathy from the press.
July 18, 2008
8:19 p.m.
Suggest removal
Mike846 writes:
Right on, raoul and fastnloose. All the Left seems to love France. Know what would happen to folks if this happened over there? The broker would be headed for jail for like 20 years, the illegals would have long since been deported AFTER being fined for basically everything they own, and the message would be clear: don't DO this stuff. Once again, these "victims" wouldn't be in this fix if we had a government that enforced our immigration laws. They wouldn't even BE here, much less be able to even APPLY for a home loan. Disgustedly, Mike
July 19, 2008
8:03 a.m.
Suggest removal
missudpat writes:
Guys, lets be real. I buy tomatoes for .79 cents a pound. A whole basket of strawberries never costs more than $1. When you shop at WalMart, you buy clothes made by 'employees' (kids) earning .50 cents a day. Without immigrants and immigrant labor you would have no expendable income to buy your own homes. In speaking of those homes, did you know that in Fl, Nev, Ca, NJ..Co.. all the national builders use immigrant labor to put them up? Google D R Horton, New Jersey files suit. Then try D R Horton, fraud. This is the state of corporate America. The top .01% get richer, and the immigrants and you and I get shafted.
July 21, 2008
3:45 p.m.
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Mike1969 writes:
BOO HOO. Lets all feel sorry for “The poor hardworking undocumented home-purchasers.”
If a drunk driver is crashed into by a sober driver it is automatically the drunk drivers fault simply because he is on the road. The same should apply to ILLEGAL aliens. Also anyone providing a loan to ILLEGAL aliens should be prosecuted and do jail time. If we remove the job magnets and housing ILLEGAL aliens will self-deport. ILLLEGAL means ILLEGAL. It’s an absolute travesty they can buy real estate at all! If they don’t like the terms they shouldn’t have signed the contract. If they didn’t speak English they should have learned it, or better yet maybe they should have stayed in their own country and purchased something there in the native language.
Also ILLEGAL aliens are not a race, they are CRIMINALS! (Every one of them is a CRIMINAL) and disliking CRIMINALS does not make someone a racist!
July 22, 2008
9:27 p.m.
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gwats writes:
When my wife and I purchased our first home in 1993, she was required to bring and show her green card @ the closing. HUD put us through the wringer on documentation, but it was worth it.
These Criminals..... that's what they really are ....trying to buy a home when you have not even been to the Immigration office to try and legalize your presence here? What a bunch of rat b*stards! Arrogant, too! These kind of folks will always be at the mercy of one kind of 'Coyote" or another. You can't buy citizenship here by taking a mortgage you did qualify for in the first place. Come trough the FRONT door do it legally, do it the RIGHT way.