In a press release from Anchorage, Alaska United States Attorney Nelson P. Cohen announced on August 23, 2007, that Tequisha M. Johnson, a resident of Anchorage, Alaska, was sentenced in federal court in Anchorage to 37 months in prison for her conviction on one count of forgery, one count of computer fraud and one count of bank fraud. Additionally, Johnson is ordered to pay $160,846.68 in restitution and serve five years of supervised release upon her release from prison.

United States District Court Judge Ralph R. Beistline imposed the sentence on Johnson, age 31.

According to information presented to the court by Assistant United States Attorney Tom Bradley, Johnson admitted committing forgery to steal from the Salvation Army; using computer fraud to steal from Easter Seals; and committing bank fraud by lying to Wells Fargo Bank in an attempt to obtain a home mortgage. She was an employee of the Salvation Army and Easter Seals when she stole from them.

In imposing sentence, Judge Beistline noted that the sentence included an additional ten months because Johnson committed these crimes while released on bail.

Mr. Cohen commended the Anchorage Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service–Criminal Investigations for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Johnson.

Resources:
Press Release

On December 15, 2006 an Indictment against 7 defendants was filed in the District Court in Anchorage, Alaska alleging Wire Fraud, Bank Fraud and Conspiracy charges in relation to a mortgage fraud. The defendants are:

Azem Limani
Bekim Hasipi
Robin Dorman
Dzevid Limani
Agim Delolli
Jan Marquiss
Kourosh Partow

They are accused of obtaining mortgage loans from various companies to purchase properties in Anchorage by providing false and fraudulent statements and documents, the use of inflated income figures, use of nominee (straw) borrowers and purchasers and disguising the relationships of the various parties to the transactions. In addition they inflated sales prices in order to obtain loans which were in excess of the property values.
Once the properties had been purchased the defendants would them sell them to each other via other fraudulent loans and to third parties and then keep the profits from the sales.

They obtained at least 15 loans on 14 of the 17 Anchorage properties mentioned in the indictment:
1343 Chirikof Court
4840 Leah Court
11200 Briggs Court
2000 Hillcrest Circle
2683 Wesleyan Drive
12363 Division Street
12371 Division Street
12387 Division Street
1743 Minerva Way
10541 Rezanof Circle
6710 Reedyke Circle
11200 Briggs Court
4149 S. Timberland Loop
438 Pine Street
127 W. 22^nd Avenue #503
20129 Upper Bowery
2675 Wesleyan Drive

Please click here to read the indictment.

Additionally Kourosh Partow was charged by way of a separate Indictment following a Grand Jury Investigation in the Alaska District Court. He is accused on 8 counts of mortgage related fraud. He had worked for both Countrywide and then American Mortgage in Anchorage as a branch manager and loan officer.

He is accused of falsifying borrowers income and other details on Stated Income loan applications so that they would be approved without significant internal review. His motive is stated to be that of increasing his income by getting the loans to close quickly. In addition he is alleged to have falsely recorded borrower down payments which he knew would not be forthcoming.

Applications to buy the following 14 properties are mentioned in the indictment.

2201 West 48^th Avenue
15621 Stanwood Circle
3423 Murphy Circle
308 Davis Street
10936 Elmore Road
5431 O’Malley Road
6673 Shangri-La Circle
702 Deermont Street
6465 Whispering Loop, Units A & B
705 West 27^th Avenue
12324 Silver Spruce Circle
4265 South Timberland Loop, Wasilla
205 Dailey Avenue #1
9640 East Forest Grove

Please click here to read the indictment.

Update on Sunday, July 1, 2007 at 12:43PM by The Editor - Ian Shuter

On Friday March 30, 2007 Bekim Hasipi, Robin Dorman and Jan Marquiss pleaded guilty in federal court to one count each of wire fraud for making false statements in mortgage loan applications. TRhe guilty pleas were announced by U.S. Attorney Nelson P. Cohen.

Update on Friday, August 31, 2007 at 02:12PM by The Editor - Ian Shuter

On Augsut 30, 2007 the FBI reported that  Kourosh Partow was sentenced in federal court in Anchorage to 25 months imprisonment and a $50,000 fine for his conviction on two counts of wire fraud arising from a scheme to falsify information on mortgage loans originated by him while acting as a branch manager for the Anchorage offices of Countrywide Home Loans and American Home Mortgage.

Click here for the press release. 

Anchorage Daily News - May 25th, 2005

Zaz Hollander reports in the Anchorage Daily News that until a few years ago, real estate broker Dean Beaulieu was an aggressive businessman, selling property through several companies — including one forged from thin air in Nevada. Now the 51-year-old owner of Wasilla’s Best in the Land Realty is looking at being locked up.

Four years ago, Beaulieu bought a $2 million parcel at Settlers Bay, created an out-of-state shell company and bilked a longtime client out of at least $270,000, according to his recent plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Anchorage. Beaulieu will spend more than two years in prison and pay $150,000 in restitution in exchange for pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud. His sentencing is scheduled for August.

The whole thing started in the spring of 2001. Lerma, a developer in Anchorage, Eagle River and the Valley, told Beaulieu he was looking to do something big. Beaulieu came back with an offer: 325 lots in a Settlers Bay subdivision for $2.27 million.

Beaulieu told Lerma, a client of his since 1998, that the seller “would not budge on the price,” according to court documents. The asking price from the landowner — Settlers Bay Development Inc., a subsidiary of Bellingham, Wash.-based Trillium Corp. — was a nonnegotiable $2 million.

But Lerma didn’t know that. Nor was he aware that Beaulieu in April 2001 established a company called Settlers Financial Co. through a Nevada firm that advertises shareholder anonymity. A Nevada public records search still reveals a company with that name, dissolved last year, registered at a Las Vegas address. Dean Beaulieu is listed as president, secretary and treasurer.

That summer, Beaulieu bought the property from Trillium for $2 million. The same day, at a different location, he turned around and sold it to Lerma for $2.27 million plus an $80,000 commission, using the Nevada shell company as a front.

Beaulieu admitted signing the purchase agreement with a hard-to-read “little squiggle” rather than a clear signature that would alert Lerma to the switch, according to court documents. He spent none of his own money on the deal — starting with $50,000 of Lerma’s earnest money to make a down payment on the lots.

Lerma didn’t figure out the “shell game” until a dispute arose with the Settlers Bay Homeowners Association over the use of an airstrip. Lerma exchanged paperwork with Trillium. Only then, several months later, did both sides realize what Beaulieu had done. Lerma went to authorities.

Read the rest of the article by clicking here