Maryland mortgage officer Rolando Alonzo Cousins, aka 'Junior', 31, was indicted in a mortgage fraud scheme that victimized distressed homeowners with delinquent mortgages. A federal grand jury indicted Cousins for conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud and money laundering in a massive mortgage fraud scheme.
In the alleged mortage fraud scheme homeowners facing foreclosure were promised that they could keep their home and that their credit could be repaired. Instead, the homeowners were left homeless and with no equity, according to a press release from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Cousins was indicted on March 8 and arrested on March 9, 2010. According to the 11-count indictment, Cousins was a Senior Loan Officer with the Metropolitan Money Store (MMS), located in Lanham, Maryland. The Metropolitan Money Store (MMS) offered foreclosure consultation and credit services to financially distressed homeowners. Cousins also owned and operated Prosper Investments LLC. Also involved in the scheme were Joy Jackson and Jennifer McCall and others.
According to the allegations in the indictment, Metropolitan Money Store was one of several companies that fraudulently promised to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, so they could their homes and repair their damaged credit. The homeowners had to allow the titles to their homes to be put into the names of third party purchasers (straw buyers) for a one year period. During that period,the defendants were supposed to help them obtain new mortgages. The defendants told the homeowners that equity withdrawn from the properties would be used to pay the mortgage and house expenses.
Instead of keeping their promises, the defendants paid about $10,000 to each of the straw buyers to participate in the scheme, fraudulently bolstered the credit of the straw buyers so they could qualify for better mortgage terms, obtained fraudulently inflated loans on the properties in the names of the straw buyers, stripped away most of the homeowner's equity proceeds, converted the money to their personal use and stopped making mortgage payments on the property. As a result the house would be foreclosed on.
The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of $1.5 million, alleged to be Cousins’ proceeds from the scheme. Cousins faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for the conspiracy and each of the two mail fraud counts; and 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of eight counts of money laundering.
Joy Jackson and Jennifer McCall pleaded guilty to their role in the scheme and were sentenced to 151 months in prison and 135 months in prison, respectively. Nine other co-conspirators also pleaded guilty and were sentenced.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys James A. Crowell IV and Christen Sproule, who are prosecuting the case. Rosenstein expressed special appreciation to the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation’s Division of Financial Regulation Investigative Unit for their assistance in the investigation.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.
Written by Christine Nyholm
Huliq.com
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