{"id":4866,"date":"2014-07-22T12:57:13","date_gmt":"2014-07-22T19:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866"},"modified":"2014-08-06T18:00:06","modified_gmt":"2014-08-07T01:00:06","slug":"former-bank-america-employee-sentenced-prison-taking-bribes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866","title":{"rendered":"Former Bank Of America Employee Sentenced To Prison For Taking Bribes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bank<\/a>LOS ANGELES <\/strong>\u2013 A former Bank of America employee was sentenced Monday to two years and six months in federal prison for taking more than $1.2 million in bribes to approve artificially low-price short sales of properties on which the bank held mortgages, federal officials said.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Court Judge Otis D. Wright II. also ordered Kevin Lauricella,<\/strong><\/span>\u00a029, of Thousand Oaks,\u00a0<\/span>to pay $5.7 million restitution to Bank of America and to forfeit his residence, which had been purchased with some of the bribe money, authorities said.<\/p>\n

When he pleaded guilty, Lauricella admitted approving fraudulent short sales for at least nine properties.<\/p>\n

In January, officials said Lauricella pleaded guilty to two felony charges \u2013 receiving bribes and making false entries in the bank\u2019s books and records.<\/p>\n

The fraudulent short sales that Lauricella approved in return for the bribes resulted in at least $5.7 million in losses to the bank.<\/p>\n

The fraudulent short sales also clouded the title on the properties, which in turn resulted in expensive litigation for innocent parties, including individuals who purchased \u00a0 the homes later.<\/p>\n

Lauricella worked in the Short Sale Department of Bank of America\u2019s Simi Valley office in Ventura County in 2010 and 2011.<\/p>\n

He was responsible for negotiating short sale transactions, in which a lender allows property securing a mortgage or deed of trust to be sold for less than the existing loan balance, usually because the borrower can no longer make the payments due on the loan or because the fair market value of the property has dropped below the balance due, officials said.<\/p>\n

By approving the short sale, authorities said the lender agrees to release the lien on the property securing the mortgage even though the lender will receive less than the full amount owed.<\/p>\n

In return for bribes \u2013 which were paid by various individuals who purchased the properties so they could be \u201cflipped\u201d \u2013 Lauricella used his position to \u201capprove\u201d short sales that he was not authorized to approve and that were for sales prices far below the fair market value of the subject \u00a0properties,<\/p>\n

Lauricella then made false entries in Bank of America\u2019s computer system to make it appear that Bank of America had approved the short sales for the below-market prices.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2013 A former Bank of America employee was sentenced Monday to two years and six months in federal prison for taking more than $1.2 million in bribes to approve artificially…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[269,169,683],"class_list":["post-4866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bank-of-america","tag-bribes","tag-thousand-oaks"],"yoast_head":"\nEx-Bank of America Employee Sentenced for Taking Bribes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"LOS ANGELES \u2013 A former Bank of America employee was sentenced Monday to two years and six months in federal prison for taking more than $1.2 million in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex-Bank of America Employee Sentenced for Taking Bribes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LOS ANGELES \u2013 A former Bank of America employee was sentenced Monday to two years and six months in federal prison for taking more than $1.2 million in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-22T19:57:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-08-07T01:00:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bank-of-America-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=4866#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=4866\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Former Bank Of America Employee Sentenced To Prison For Taking Bribes\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-22T19:57:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-08-07T01:00:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=4866\"},\"wordCount\":380,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=4866#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Bank-of-America-150x150.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Bank of America\",\"Bribes\",\"Thousand Oaks\"],\"articleSection\":[\"American Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=4866#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=4866\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=4866\",\"name\":\"Ex-Bank of America Employee Sentenced for Taking Bribes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=4866#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=4866#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Bank-of-America-150x150.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-22T19:57:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-08-07T01:00:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"LOS ANGELES \u2013 A former Bank of America employee was sentenced Monday to two years and six months in federal prison for taking more than $1.2 million in\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=4866\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=4866#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Bank-of-America.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Bank-of-America.jpg\",\"width\":470,\"height\":254},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ex-Bank of America Employee Sentenced for Taking Bribes","description":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 A former Bank of America employee was sentenced Monday to two years and six months in federal prison for taking more than $1.2 million in","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ex-Bank of America Employee Sentenced for Taking Bribes","og_description":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 A former Bank of America employee was sentenced Monday to two years and six months in federal prison for taking more than $1.2 million in","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2014-07-22T19:57:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-08-07T01:00:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bank-of-America-150x150.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Former Bank Of America Employee Sentenced To Prison For Taking Bribes","datePublished":"2014-07-22T19:57:13+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-07T01:00:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866"},"wordCount":380,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bank-of-America-150x150.jpg","keywords":["Bank of America","Bribes","Thousand Oaks"],"articleSection":["American Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866","name":"Ex-Bank of America Employee Sentenced for Taking Bribes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bank-of-America-150x150.jpg","datePublished":"2014-07-22T19:57:13+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-07T01:00:06+00:00","description":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 A former Bank of America employee was sentenced Monday to two years and six months in federal prison for taking more than $1.2 million in","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=4866#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bank-of-America.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bank-of-America.jpg","width":470,"height":254},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4866"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4873,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4866\/revisions\/4873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}