Ashburn Realtor Charged in $7 Million Mortgage Fraud Scheme
| U.S. Attorney’s Office December 19, 2011 |
ALEXANDRIA, VA—A federal grand jury has charged Nadin Samnang, 29, of Ashburn, Va., with conspiracy and mortgage fraud charges related to his role in alleged fraudulent mortgage loan transactions involving at least 25 homes in northern Virginia and more than $7 million in losses to lenders.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Daniel Cortez, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service; and James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement.
According to the 12-count indictment, from 2006 to 2008, Samnang is accused of using his position as a realtor and the owner of a title company to engage in a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders and profit from loan proceeds, commissions, and bonus payments.
According to the indictment, Samnang and other members of the conspiracy allegedly recruited unqualified buyers—usually individuals with good credit but insufficient assets or income to qualify for a particular loan—and used them as nominal purchasers in residential real estate transactions. As part of the conspiracy and fraud scheme, Samnang and others are accused of falsifying mortgage loan applications, creating fake documents to support the fraudulent applications, and adding the unqualified buyers as signatories on their bank accounts to make it appear to lenders as though the buyers possessed sufficient assets to qualify for the loans.
If convicted, Samnang faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count.
The case is being investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI’s Washington Field Office. Assistant United States Attorney Paul J. Nathanson is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
Criminal indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.