Unlicensed Real Estate Closer Sentenced on Fraud Charges

ST. LOUIS—The United States Attorney’s Office announced today that Richard Rodawald was sentenced to 30 months in prison for falsifying and concealing inflated fees on residential refinancing documents. In addition to the prison sentence, he was also ordered to pay restitution of $98,981.

According to court documents, Rodawald was employed as an unlicensed closer (signer) by Dedicated Closing Agency to prepare closing residential loan refinancing documents between a customer and lender. Dedicated Closing Agency’s primary function is to prepare closing documents in anticipation of closings and financing through Golden Oak Lending. Golden Oak secured financing or refinancing for homeowners, and once financing was secured, and after Dedicated Closing Agency prepared the closing documents through Rodawald, Golden Oak Lending often used Freedom Title Company to provide title insurance and complete disbursements for the closings on residential properties. Unbeknownst to the owners of Dedicated Closing Agency, Rodawald received fraudulent inflated fees from Freedom Title Company’s disbursements at closing. These fees were concealed at closing and hidden from the customer and the lenders, both private and government (FHA). Rodawald’s fees were concealed on the closing settlement statement by creating a second statement after closing. The original HUD1’s which concealed the true Rodawald fee were received by the borrower and the lending institution. The fraudulent HUD1, which detailed the actual but illegal fee to Rodawald, went to Freedom Title Company for disbursement of monies. The scheme covered a period between 2007 and February 2010. Approximately 1,100 fraudulent HUD1’s were created by Rodawald. The total amount of fraudulent fees that he received during this time was approximately $98,981.

RICHARD RODAWALD, Collinsville, IL, pled guilty in January to mail fraud. He appeared today for sentencing before United States District Judge Carol E. Jackson.

This case was investigated by the Department of Housing & Urban Development, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Postal Inspection Service. First Assistant United States Attorney Michael W. Reap handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.