Mortgage Fraud: Robert Pena Pleaded Guilty in Connection With Defrauding the Government National Mortgage Association – Ginnie Mae

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Mortgage Company President Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Ginnie Mae

<h2>Mortgage Company President Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Ginnie Mae<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>BOSTON – The president and founder of a Falmouth mortgage company pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston in connection with defrauding the Government National Mortgage Association &lpar;Ginnie Mae&rpar; out of approximately &dollar;2&period;5 million&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Robert Pena&comma; 68&comma; of Falmouth&comma; pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and six counts of wire fraud&period; U&period;S&period; Senior District Court Judge Mark L&period; Wolf scheduled sentencing for Jan&period; 5&comma; 2018&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Pena was president and founder of the now-defunct <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;category&sol;mortgage&sol;" title&equals;"mortgage" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"120">mortgage<&sol;a> company&comma; Mortgage Security Inc&period; &lpar;MSI&rpar;&comma; which contracted with Ginnie Mae&comma; a government-run corporation charged with making housing more affordable by injecting capital into the U&period;S&period; housing market&period; Ginnie Mae guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest to investors in bonds backed by government-sponsored mortgage loans&comma; such as those offered by the Federal Housing Administration and the U&period;S&period; Department of Veterans Affairs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>MSI contracted with Ginnie Mae to pool eligible residential mortgage loans and then sell Ginnie Mae-backed mortgage bonds to investors&period; MSI was responsible for servicing the loans in the pools it created&comma; including collecting principal and interest payments from borrowers&comma; as well as <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;category&sol;loans&sol;" title&equals;"loan" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"277">loan<&sol;a> payoffs&comma; and placing those funds into accounts held in trust by Ginnie Mae&comma; which would ultimately pass them along to investors&period; Among other things&comma; Ginnie Mae required issuers like MSI to provide regular reports concerning the status of the loans in the pools&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Beginning in 2011&comma; Pena began diverting money that borrowers were sending to MSI&period; Specifically&comma; Pena deposited high-dollar&comma; loan-payoff checks into bank accounts unknown to Ginnie Mae and then used those funds for personal and business expenses&period; Pena also diverted borrowers’ escrow funds and mortgage-insurance premiums for his own use&period; In total&comma; Pena took approximately &dollar;2&period;5 million&comma; which Ginnie Mae then had to pay to the investors whose investments it had guaranteed&period; Pena also attempted to cover up his scheme by providing false reports to Ginnie Mae about the status of the loans MSI was servicing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The charging statues provide for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison&comma; three years of supervised release and a fine of &dollar;250&comma;000 or twice the gross gain or loss&period; Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U&period;S&period; Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Acting United States Attorney William D&period; Weinreb&semi; Christina Scaringi&comma; Special Agent in Charge of the U&period;S&period; Department of Housing and Urban Development&comma; Office of Inspector General&comma; Northeast Regional Office&semi; and Harold H&period; Shaw&comma; Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation&comma; Boston Field Division&comma; made the announcement&period; Valuable assistance was provided by the U&period;S&period; Department of Veterans Affairs&comma; Office of Inspector General&semi; the U&period;S&period; Department of Agriculture&comma; Office of Inspector General&semi; and the Falmouth Police Department&period; Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney Brian LaMacchia of Weinreb’s Civil Division is prosecuting the case&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-ma&sol;pr&sol;mortgage-company-president-pleads-guilty-defrauding-ginnie-mae">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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