Four Charged with Multiple Counts of Wire Fraud in Mortgage Fraud Schemes
| U.S. Attorney’s Office April 30, 2010 |
Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced today that four informations have been filed against Russell E. Krouse, Jason E. Davis, Harry L. Gongloff, and Steven M. Taylor, charging them with multiple counts of wire fraud in connection with mortgage fraud schemes which caused $710,000 in losses to Aegis Funding Corporation and New Century Mortgage.
Russell E. Krouse, age 45, currently resides in Ontario, Canada. Jason E. Davis, age 35, currently resides in Lorain, Ohio. Harry L. Gongloff, age 35, currently resides in Lorain, Ohio. Steven M. Taylor, age 35, currently resides in Elyria, Ohio.
The informations allege that Davis, Gongloff, and Taylor (“the sellers”) purchased depressed homes in the cities of Elyria and Lorain, Ohio, which were later renovated to resell to prospective home buyers. The sellers advertised their homes for sale in local publications and represented that there would be no money down and no closing costs to the buyer. Krouse, a mortgage broker with Majors Financial Group, processed the loans for the sellers.
The informations allege that the defendants made fraudulent misrepresentations to the mortgage lenders by providing undisclosed down payment assistance to the buyers and by submitting fictitious bank statements and verifications of rent to the mortgage companies in support of the loans.
If convicted, the defendants’ sentences will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendants’ prior criminal records, if any, the defendants’ roles in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Vasile C. Katsaros, following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, HUD-OIG and the Lorain County Prosecutor’s Office.
An information is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.