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18 MAN SENTENCED TO 35 YEARS FOR 'FORECLOSURE RESCUE' FRAUD One of 17 defendants in a "foreclosure rescue" fraud case received a 35-year prison sentence on September 4 for his role in the scam, according to U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California Benjamin B. Wagner. Charles Head, 40, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, received the lengthy sentence from U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller. Head previously resided in Los Angeles and Orange County where he was the CEO of several financial institutions, including Creative Loans and Head Financial Services. Mueller said during the sentencing that Head "created and implemented a very cynical scheme," according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice. Head and the other 16 defendants were indicted in 2008 in two cases and charged with mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, among other charges stemming from illegal activities by Head Financial Services, according to the statement. e evidence used to indict the defendants showed that they promised to aid homeowners facing foreclosure by helping them avoid that fate and repairing their credit. Without the homeowners' knowledge, the defendants substituted "straw buyers," often friends and family of the defendants, for the homeowners on the titles of the properties. e defendants then drained the homes of available equity once the straw buyers were on the titles and shared the proceeds among themselves. e scam began in California, but Head eventually expanded it nationwide, the statement says. e Department of Justice reported in its statement that the defendants netted more than $90 million in the scam, causing more than $50 million in losses, and stole the titles for more than 300 homes in a two-and-a-half-year period from January 2004 to June 2006. e victims in this case were left with no home, no equity, and damaged credit, according to the statement. "is defendant (Head) purposely targeted the financially vulnerable during their time of greatest distress with promises of help," Wagner said in the statement. "en he tricked them into handing over their most valuable asset, their home. When victims in one scheme grew scarce, he opened up a new scheme drawing in victims from across the country. Few economic crimes are more reprehensible. No sentence will undo the damage wrought by Charles Head and his fellow scammers, but today's sentence brings a measure of justice for their victims." Head and his brother Jeremy, 34, one of the other defendants, were convicted in May 2013, while Head and two other defendants were convicted in a separate trial in December 2013. In all, Charles Head was convicted of seven counts of mail fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. "e defendant preyed on struggling and trusting homeowners, literally stealing the American Dream out from under them, with no remorse," said José M. Martínez, special agent in charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation. "Today's sentencing signifies the continued effort by the IRS, FBI, and U.S. Attorney's Office to investigate and prosecute those who commit mortgage fraud. IRS-CI is committed to pursuing those who line their pockets with profits from these schemes." A hearing is set for November 22 to determine how much restitution Head will pay. REPORT: 204,000 PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS ADDED IN AUGUST ADP Research Institute reported the addition of 204,000 nonfarm private sector jobs for the month of August on seasonally adjusted basis in its August National Employment Report. While this number is down from 212,000 private sector jobs added in July and 297,000 in June, the trend shown by the increase in private sector employment since the start of 2014 has been promising, says Carlos Rodriguez, president and CEO of ADP. "August marks the fifth straight month of employment gains above 200,000, continuing an encouraging trend for the U.S. labor market," Rodriguez said. Of those 204,000 private sector jobs added, more than 78,000 of them were small business jobs, defined as having between one and 49 employees. About 75,000 of the new jobs were at medium businesses, which employ between 50 and 499 people; and more than 52,000 of the jobs were at large businesses, or those with 500 or more employees. Goods-producing jobs accounted for approximately 41,000 of the positions added in the private sector in August, a significant gain from the 23,000 goods-producing jobs added in July, ADP reports. About 23,000 of the 41,000 jobs added in August were in the manufacturing industry (its highest level in nearly two years and about 15,000 of them were in construction (a slight increase from July). Meanwhile, service-producing jobs made up about 164,000 of the private sector jobs added in August, according to ADP. is number represents a decline from 190,000 in July. e professional/business services industries added 51,000 jobs, and the trade/ transportation/utilities industries were next with 28,000. e number of jobs added in the financial industry totaled 5,000 for August. All of these numbers were down from their July totals, according to ADP. "Steady as she goes in the job market," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. "Businesses continue to hire at a solid pace. Job gains are broad based across industries and company sizes. At the current pace of job growth, the economy will return to full employment by the end of 2016."

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