Trio Indicted in $1.4 Million Fraud Conspiracy

Three people from the Greater Cleveland area were indicted for their roles in a $1.4 million fraud conspiracy involving property in North Carolina, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio; Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Cleveland Field Office; and Darryl Williams, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office.

Camille M. Harris, 42, of Cleveland; Kenneth T. Embry, 56, of Lyndhurst; and Deon D. Levy, 43, of Bedford, are all charged with three counts each: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

All three were arrested this morning.

All three were also affiliated with a general contracting company known as Ameribuild Management Company (AMC) in Cleveland: Harris was president, Embry was chief financial officer, and Levy was director of operations from May 2007 through February 2008, according to the indictment.

Together, the trio conspired to enrich themselves by making false representations on a mortgage-loan application and other documents related to the North Carolina property and using fictitious invoices as a means to extract money, according to the indictment.

Around November 2007, Levy had been working with a realtor to find a property around Charlotte, North Carolina. Embry sent Levy bank statements for Harris’ personal account that falsely stated her bi-weekly salary payments were $31,260. Embry also e-mailed Harris’ personal tax returns and AMC’s corporate tax returns, both of which contained misrepresentations about the financial condition of Harris and AMC, according to the indictment.

On December 21, 2007, Embry sent an invoice to a North Carolina escrow agent for $340,000 from an Ohio business called Wolfco Inc. The invoice requested payment for work done on the North Carolina property, when, in fact, no work had been done, according to the indictment.

Embry again sent false bank statements and balance sheets that misstated the financial conditions of Harris and AMC, according to the indictment.

On December 28, 2007, Harris executed and submitted a loan application for the North Carolina property to Fairway Independence Mortgage Corp. that contained several false statements, including claims that she had a monthly income of $62,520, she had more than $1.2 million in two bank accounts, and that she owned property on East 141st Street in Cleveland with a market value of $80,000, according to the indictment.

That day, Harris and Embry caused the sale and closing on the North Carolina property with a disbursement check from Fairway of $1,393,873. That included $340,000 that was distributed to Wolfco Inc. Five days later, Embry opened a bank account in the name of Wolfco Inc. d/b/a Kenneth Embry, according to the indictment.

On January 7, 2008, Harris and Embry caused the escrow agent to transfer $340,000 to Wolfco’s account. Later that day, Embry drafted a check in the amount of $181,000 made out to “cash.” He then transferred $150,000 from his Wolfco account to the AMC account controlled by Harris, according to the indictment.

Two days after that, Harris drafted a check in the amount of $80,000 from the AMC account payable to herself and deposited it into her personal account.

Harris and Embry caused a loss of approximately $599,388 to Fairway and Amtrust Bank, as the purchaser of the North Carolina property’s mortgage from Fairway, according to the indictment.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert J. Patton following an investigation by Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations.

If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any; the defendant’s role 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.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.