Third Defendant In Real Estate Fraud Case Pleads Guilty

DENVER – Alois Craig Weingart, age 59, of Castle Rock, Colorado pled guilty to one count of making a false statement to a bank, U.S. Attorney John Walsh, IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Stephen Boyd and FBI Denver Acting Special Agent in Charge Steven Olson announced.  Weingart entered his guilty plea before Chief U.S. District Court Judge Marcia S. Krieger, and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 8, 2013.  In the same case, Waunita Weingart pled guilty to two counts of wire fraud on March 13, 2013 and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 17, 2013.  John Gallegos pled guilty to one count of making a false statement to a bank and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 6, 2013. 

According to the stipulated facts contained in Waunita Weingart’s plea agreement, beginning in 2000 and continuing through 2008, she devised a scheme to defraud lenders that funded residential mortgage loans. She was an experienced mortgage broker, settlement agent, and licensed title insurance producer. Alois Craig Weingart is her husband; John Gallegos is her son. As part of her scheme, she, John Gallegos, and Craig Weingart each repeatedly obtained mortgage loans for their properties in Castle Rock and Boulder, Colorado, pledging the same properties again and again as collateral to each successive lender without paying off the prior loans. Waunita Weingart used her mortgage brokerage, G-4 Holding, as well as two escrow/title companies she controlled, Colorado County and Community Title and Real Estate Title, to facilitate her fraud.

For each new loan, Waunita Weingart made it appear as though the lender would obtain a first priority security interest in the property, knowing that it would not. In preparing the loan applications and providing information to the lenders for the applications, she incorporated false representations as necessary to assure that the borrowers would qualify for the loans. Each application substantially overstated the borrower’s true income, falsely representing that he or she had high monthly earnings from employment at another company Waunita Weingart controlled. Each application also falsely represented that the borrower owned numerous properties that he or she did not in fact own. As a result of her scheme, lenders lost over 12 million dollars.

Alois Craig Weingart pled guilty to making a false statement to obtain loans for his Castle Rock property; John Gallegos pled guilty to making a false statement to obtain a loan for another property he owned in Seattle, Washington.

“The defendants in this case thought they could out-smart the financial system,” said U.S. Attorney John Walsh.  “Crimes such as this ultimately hurt our economy as well as those who applies for a mortgage.”

“IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to work diligently with our law enforcement partners to ensure that those who engage in these illegal activities are vigorously investigated and brought to justice,” said Stephen Boyd, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Denver Field Office.

“Investigating mortgage fraud is a priority for the FBI as it hurts homeowners, businesses and the economy,” said FBI Denver Acting Special Agent in Charge Steven Olson.  “Working closely with the IRS Criminal Investigations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, we were able to see that the three defendants were charged and ultimately convicted for fraud.”

Waunita Weingart faces not more than 20 years imprisonment, and up to a $250,000 fine per count for two counts of wire fraud. Craig Weingart and John Gallegos face not more than 30 years imprisonment, and up to a $1,000,000 fine for making a false statement to a bank. 

This case was investigated by special agents with IRS Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Linda Kaufman and Martha Paluch.

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