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Bank Employees, Real Estate Agents, Mortgage Broker, and Other Bay Area Individuals Indicted on Mortgage Fraud-Related Charges
Federal Agents Apprehend 18 Defendants from Throughout Bay Area

U.S. Attorney’s Office April 14, 2010
  • Northern District of California (415) 436-7200

SAN FRANCISCO—Today 18 individuals were apprehended on mortgage fraud-related charges, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced. Over the last few months, a federal grand jury in San Francisco indicted these individuals on charges relating to alleged mortgage fraud schemes perpetrated between 2005 and 2009. The indictments were unsealed this afternoon after the defendants were arrested and made their initial court appearances before United States Magistrate Judge Bernard Zimmerman.

Of the 18 individuals charged, seven are charged with bank fraud, 10 are charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and one is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to the indictments, each defendant charged with bank fraud is alleged to have participated in a scheme to defraud financial institutions and lenders to obtain money from those entities by making materially false and fraudulent misrepresentations. The defendants charged with conspiring to commit mail fraud are charged with participating in a scheme to defraud financial institutions and other lenders by knowingly and intentionally submitting false and fraudulent information to those lenders to obtain loans for various borrowers.

Those charged and arrested include at least three current or former bank employees, eight real estate agents licensed by the California Department of Real Estate (DRE), and one mortgage broker licensed by the DRE. (The DRE’s website, which lists current and former licensees, can be found at www.dre.ca.gov.) The current or former bank employees include: Ciu (“Carrie”) Du (employed at Washington Mutual during the pertinent time frame, now employed elsewhere); Marilyn Infante (employed at Washington Mutual during the pertinent time frame, now retired); and Joseph John Pugliese (employed at Countrywide Home Loans during the pertinent time frame, now employed elsewhere).

The following is the list of defendants arrested today, as well as each defendant’s age, residence, whether and what type of license they have been issued by the DRE, and what charge each defendant is facing:

NAME

AGE

RESIDENCE

LICENSE

CHARGE

Norberto (“Noli”) AGUSTIN

51

Daly City

No

Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud

John Randolph Errazo BERNABE

42

Redwood City

No

Bank Fraud

Sam BOWLEY

56

Vallejo

No

Bank Fraud

Vangeline S. BROYLES

46

Redwood City

Real Estate Agent

Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud

Roy CERVANTES

31

Lincoln

Real Estate Agent

Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud

Maria COMFORT

46

Daly City

Real Estate Agent

Bank Fraud

Jeanie S. CUSING

48

San Mateo

Real Estate Agent

Bank Fraud

Ginger DANIELS

31

Oakland

Real Estate Agent

Bank Fraud

Ciu DU

35

San Francisco

No

Bank Fraud

Marilyn INFANTE

66

San Francisco

No

Bank Fraud

Cleofe Soledad NOGAVICH

46

Sunnyvale

No

Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud

Wilfredo C. PASCUAL

51

Daly City

Real Estate Agent

Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud

Leonora POMAR

56

Colma

Real Estate Agent

Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud

Joseph John PUGLIESE

42

Novato

Real Estate Agent (expired)

Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud

Wazhma (“Nilo”) RAHIMI

27

Antioch

Mortgage Broker

Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud

Clarin TAMBOT-QUERIMIT

29

Daly City

No

Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud

Ricardo TANG

51

San Francisco

No

Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud

Gina TCHIKOVANI

43

Redwood City

Real Estate Agent

Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud

The maximum statutory penalty for bank fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344, is 30 years of imprisonment, a $1,000,000 fine, five years of supervised release, and restitution. The maximum statutory penalties for conspiracy to commit mail/wire fraud are the same as those for bank fraud. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, Title 18, United States Code, Section 3553.

The prosecution is the result of a seven-month investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Service, and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General. Several Assistant United States Attorneys are prosecuting these cases.

These mortgage fraud cases are being prosecuted federally as part of President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.

According to U.S. Attorney Russoniello, the criminal conduct these defendants are accused of engaging in, i.e. obtaining or using false documents to submit to lenders, exaggerating income and assets, understating liabilities, providing false employment records, and/or false banking information, was all too common during the years 2005-2009. Agents of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force are pursuing a substantial number of leads in other similar matters that are expected to result in the filing of criminal charges against other individuals in the near future.

If you have information relating to potential mortgage fraud or other financial fraud, please call 415-553-7400.

Please note, indictments contain only allegations against individuals and, as with all defendants, these defendants must be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Further Information:

A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.

Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

Judges' calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court's website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to Jack Gillund at (415) 436-6599 or by e-mail at Jack.Gillund@usdoj.gov.

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