Press Release
Accountant Sentenced To 57 Months In Prison For Mortgage Fraud Scheme
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Nevada
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A California accountant was sentenced today to 57 months in federal prison and ordered to pay approximately $1.1 million in restitution for her role in a mortgage fraud scheme in southern Nevada, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.
Carmen Denise Mosley, 44, of Granada Hills, Calif., was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Kent J. Dawson. Mosley was convicted by a jury on May 6, 2014, of one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and two counts of bank fraud. She was permitted to self-report to prison by Nov. 3, 2014.
“As we have seen time and time again, the persons who committed mortgage fraud in Nevada were primarily employed in the housing and mortgage loan industry,” said U.S. Attorney Bogden. “They used special skills to commit these crimes, which are still impacting the Nevada economy today.”
According to the court records and evidence introduced at trial, from about November 2006 to November 2007, Mosley, a certified public accountant, and co-defendant Zulfiya Karimova, 33, of, Cupertino, California, a loan officer, conspired to obtain mortgage loans from financial institutions by causing materially false information to be placed in the buyers’ mortgage loan applications and supporting documentation. Using this scheme, Mosley and Karimova obtained money and property from the financial institutions by causing money from the loans to be disbursed to them at closing for their own use and benefit. Karimova caused buyers to apply for mortgage loans and caused their applications to contain false information about their income and assets. Mosley provided fraudulent tax documents to support the fraudulent representations in the applications concerning the buyers’ income. Mosley and Karimova caused the financial institutions to loan money to fund the purchase of three homes in the Las Vegas area during 2006 and 2007. The buyers defaulted on the loans, causing more than $1 million in losses to the lenders.
Karimova pleaded guilty prior to trial to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, and bank fraud, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 20, 2014.
The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah E. Griswold and Kathryn C. Newman.
Today’s announcement is part of efforts underway by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorney’s offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Since the inception of FFETF in November 2009, the Justice Department has filed more than 12,841 financial fraud cases against nearly 18,737 defendants including nearly 3,500 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, visit www.stopfraud.gov.
Updated January 29, 2015
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