FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                           TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2007                                                                   WWW.USDOJ.GOV	CRM (202) 514-2008 TDD (202) 514-1888

TITLE COMPANY SETTLEMENT AGENT SENTENCED FOR ROLE IN FRAUD SCHEME THAT
COST LENDERS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN FORECLOSED DISTRICT PORPERTIES

Washington, D.C. - A federal judge has sentenced a Maryland woman to 12 months of home detention with electronic monitoring following the defendant's guilty plea in December of 2004 to the charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office, announced today.

Vicki A. Robinson, 51, of Curtis Bay, Maryland, was sentenced yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before the Honorable Gladys Kessler. In addition to the home detention, Judge Kessler ordered that the defendant pay restitution in the amount of $5,045,460. The Court also placed the defendant on three years of probation.

The government's evidence established that the defendant was part of a conspiracy, organized by Charles E. Hall, Sr., to "flip" residential properties in the District of Columbia; an overall scheme which netted $5.2 million for Hall and caused a loss to the banks of over $5 million. From 2002 to 2003, Hall and others targeted Washington, D.C. homes for "flip sales" or quick resales at fraudulently inflated prices. Hall recruited people to act as the "straw buyers," people who would have the property in their names, but would not pay the down payments or the mortgages. Hall worked as a loan officer for Guaranty Residential Lending (GRL), and through this position submitted loan applications for these straw buyers seeking approximately $14 million in loans to purchase the properties.

Hall paid a co-conspirator to write dishonest appraisals, falsely reporting the conditions of the properties and stating that the properties were renovated when, in fact, they were not. These fraudulently inflated appraisals, which dramatically overstated the value of the properties, caused the banks to loan out a much higher mortgage based on a much higher sales price. A co-conspirator purchased the properties, and, many times on the same day, quickly resold the "flipped" properties to the straw buyers at the price of the inflated appraisals. In this manner, a huge amount of money was generated for the co-conspirators. In one day, a single property could produce between $150,000 and $400,000 of cash for the conspiracy.

The defendant, Vicki Robinson, was the settlement agent on all or virtually all of the properties' settlement closings. The lenders relied upon her to follow their instructions. However, Hall paid Robinson to not follow the banks' instructions. As the settlement agent and signatory on all of the disbursement checks, Robinson had the responsibility: (1) to ensure that the settlement statement was accurate; (2) that the borrower provided the funds as listed on the settlement statement; (3) that the money was disbursed to the seller according to the settlement statement; (4) that the money was disbursed only after the cash from borrower was received; and (5) that the parties to the sale were present at settlement or appropriate powers of attorney forms were properly executed. Contrary to instructions, Robinson accepted money from Hall and others to pay for the buyers' down payments; she allowed Hall and others to pay this down payment from the lenders' own loan proceeds; she settled property knowing that someone else signed the documents for the buyer; and she notarized documents which she knew contained false information.

The mortgages on all but one of the 32 properties defaulted and foreclosed or sold before foreclosure for a loss. The banks resold the properties (at the time during a strong real estate market), but still sold the properties for less than the amount of the mortgage loans. After reselling the properties, the banks were left holding mortgage loans in excess of the value of the properties, a loss of over $5 million.

On December 8, 2006, Charles E. Hall, Sr., the mastermind behind the whole scheme, was sentenced to 293 months in prison after having been found guilty by a federal jury of eight counts of an indictment charging conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.

In announcing the sentence of Robinson, U.S. Attorney Taylor and Assistant Director in Charge Persichini commended Special Agent Joseph Gordon of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for his work in the investigation and prosecution of the case. In addition, they commended Legal Assistant April Peeler, Paralegal Specialist Jeanie Latimore-Brown, former Paralegal Specialist Paula Pagano, former Auditor Nicholas Novak, former Litigation Support Supervisor Deborah Dunn, Litigation Support Specialist Thomas Royal and Assistant U.S. Attorney Virginia Cheatham.

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