In Bakersfield, California, David Marshall Crisp, Carlyle Lee Cole, Julie Dianne Farmer, Sneha Ramesh Mohammadi, Jayson Peter Costa, Jeriel Salinas, Robinson Dinh Nguyen, Michael Angelo Munoz, Jennifer Anne Crisp, and Caleb Lee Cole, were charged in a 56-count indictment with conspiracy to commit bank, mail and wire fraud, and with individual counts of mail fraud. Some of the defendants were also charged with wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to
launder money. The indictment was returned by a
federal grand jury in Fresno, California. David Crisp was arrested in San Diego. Carlyle Cole was arrested in Ventura County, Farmer, Mohammadi, Costa, Salinas, Munoz, and Caleb Cole were arrested in Bakersfield. Nguyen was arrested in Monterey, California. Jennifer Crisp surrendered to police.
David Crisp and Carlyle Cole were the owners of Crisp, Cole & Associates (CCA). They also controlled Tower Lending, CCA’s in-house mortgage broker business. The indictment alleges that, from approximately January 2004 to September 2007, the defendants perpetrated a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders by submitting fraudulent loan applications, including misrepresentations concerning the borrower’s income, assets, employment status, and intent to use the home as the borrower’s primary residence. The indictment says the defendants perpetrated the scheme in part by flipping homes, which is the selling of a single home on multiple occasions, through a series of fraudulent transactions to co-defendants, straw buyers, and others in order to artificially inflate the prices of the residences. The defendants typically increased the loan amounts and used close to 100 percent financing, in order to extract the inflated equity amounts from the properties on each financing transaction. CCA generally acted as the real estate brokerage on the sales, and Tower Lending acted as the mortgage brokerage on the financing transactions, generating substantial commissions and fees for the defendants on each transaction. The scheme involved more than $20 million in losses to lenders.
This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the FBI with assistance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. They were assisted by the Bakersfield Police Department. The maximum penalty for the conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud counts is 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The maximum penalty for money laundering is 10 years in prison and a fine of $500,000. Any sentence will be determined after consideration of any statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
This law enforcement action is part of the work being done by the United States Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. It was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. It 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.
If you have been charged with federal crime such as mortage fraud, bank fraud,
mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, or any related crime, you will need an experienced
federal criminal defense attorney to represent you in court. Federal attorneys
Donald Marks and
Anthony Brooklier have been successfully representing clients on federal charges for decades. Federal criminal charges are a serious crime that must be handled in the proper legal manner to avoid dire legal consequences that can affect you for many years. If you have been arrested or under investigation for federal real estate fraud, it is important that you contact a
Los Angeles federal real estate fraud criminal defense attorney to discuss your case.
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