{"id":26347,"date":"2016-09-01T16:13:59","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T23:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=26347"},"modified":"2016-09-01T16:13:59","modified_gmt":"2016-09-01T23:13:59","slug":"two-california-men-sentenced-to-prison-for-fleecing-struggling-homeowners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=26347","title":{"rendered":"Two California Men Sentenced to Prison for Fleecing More than 1,000 Struggling Homeowners"},"content":{"rendered":"

CONNECTICUT<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

A federal judge sentenced Serj Geutssoyan,<\/strong> also known as “Anthony Kirk,” 34 or Santa Ana, to four years in prison and Daniel Shiau,<\/strong> also known as \u201cScott Decker,\u201d 30, of Irvine, to four years and 10 months behind bars, according to officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

The judge ordered the men to pay restitution totaling $2.3 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"courthouse\"According to court documents and statements made in court, Aria Maleki<\/strong>, Geutssoyan, Shiau and others jointly operated a series of California-based companies that falsely purported to provide home mortgage loan modifications and other consumer debt relief services to numerous homeowners in Connecticut and across the United States in exchange for upfront fees.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result of this scheme, more than 1,000 homeowners suffered losses totaling more than $3 million, officials said. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The defendants did business, at various times, as \u201cFirst Choice Financial Group, Inc.,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cFirst Choice Financial,\u201d \u201cFirst Choice Debt,\u201d \u201cLegal Modification Firm,\u201d \u201cNational Freedom Group,\u201d \u201cHome Care Alliance Group,\u201d \u201cHome Protection Firm,\u201d \u201cHardship Center,\u201d \u201cNetwork Solutions Center, Inc.,\u201d \u201cPremiere Financial Center,\u201d \u201cPremiere Financial,\u201d \u201cRescue Firm,\u201d \u201cInternational Research Group LLC,\u201d \u201cHardship Solutions,\u201d \u201cAmerican Loan Center,\u201d \u201cLoan Retention Firm,\u201d \u201cClear Vision Financial,\u201d \u201cGreen Tree Financial Group,\u201d \u201cGreen Tree Financial,\u201d \u201cEnigma Fund, Inc.,\u201d \u201cNational Aid Group,\u201d \u201cSouthern Chapman Group LLC,\u201d \u201cSave Point Financial,\u201d \u201cBest Rate Financial Solutions,\u201d \u201cBest Rate Financial Solution,\u201d \u201cBest Rate Financial,\u201d \u201cBest Rate Finance Group,\u201d \u201cNation Star Financial,\u201d and \u201cNation Star Fin Group.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Maleki presided over the scheme, and Geutssoyan and Shiau were senior members of the sales team.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Geutssoyan and Shiau and other co-conspirators cold-called homeowners and offered to provide mortgage loan modification services to those who were having difficulty repaying their home mortgage loans, according to officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

The defendants charged homeowners fees that typically ranged from approximately $2,500 to $4,300 for their services.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

To induce homeowners to pay these fees, the defendants falsely represented the following:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That the homeowners already had been approved for mortgage loan modifications on extremely favorable terms.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mortgage loan modifications already had been negotiated with the homeowners\u2019 lenders<\/span><\/p>\n

The homeowners qualified for and would receive financial assistance under various government mortgage relief programs, including the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the Home Affordable Modification Program<\/span><\/p>\n

If for some reason the mortgage loan modifications fell through, the homeowners would be entitled to a full refund of their fees.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, the homeowners had not been pre-approved for mortgage loan modifications with lenders, homeowners had not qualified for any financial assistance through government mortgage relief programs, and homeowners didn’t receive refunds when they requested them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Few homeowners ever received any type of mortgage loan modification through the defendants\u2019 companies, and few homeowners received refunds of their fees, officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Participants in the scheme used pseudonyms and periodically changed their business and operating names to evade detection.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The defendants also directed homeowners to mail their checks to addresses and mail boxes that the defendants and their co-conspirators had set up in states other than California, according to authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

The investigation revealed that the top tier of salesmen, including Geutssoyan and Shiau, were paid based on commission and typically earned 45 percent to 50 percent of the final fee, after $750 to $1,000 was taken by Maleki for administrative costs.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Jan. 21, 2016, a grand jury in New Haven returned an indictment charging Maleki, Geutssoyan, Shiau and four other California residents with conspiracy and fraud offenses related to this scheme.\u00a0 The defendants were arrested on January 26.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Maleki, Geutssoyan and Shiau each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n

On July 18, Maleki was sentenced to nine years and four months in prison. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He also forfeited about $350,000 that investigators seized from various bank accounts, approximately $362,000 sized from a Bitcoin account, a $100,000 cashier\u2019s check, and a 2013 Ferrari 458 Italia, according to officials.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The other four defendants also have plead guilty and are await sentencing.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal judge sentenced Serj Geutssoyan, also known as “Anthony Kirk,” 34 or Santa Ana, to four years in prison and Daniel Shiau, also known as \u201cScott Decker,\u201d 30, of Irvine, to four years and 10 months behind bars, according to officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[184,576],"class_list":["post-26347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-california","tag-mortgage-fraud"],"yoast_head":"\nTwo men Sentenced to Prison for Fleecing More than 1,000 homeowners<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two California men were sentenced to prison for their roles in fleecing more than 1,000 struggling homeowners out of millions of dollars.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, 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