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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 125 Web-based app, AGScamHelp, as part of his office's new consumer education initiative. e purpose of the app is to help strug- gling homeowners avoid foreclosure rescue scams by determining whether a company is vetted by a government agency. e app will identify qualified agencies within the AG's Homeowner Protection Program (HOPP) that assist homeowners facing foreclosure with housing counseling and legal services and urge homeowners to use one of these agencies. ere are currently 85 agencies in the HOPP network. Also as part of the initiative, the AG's office will provide monthly mailings with tips on how to avoid foreclosure prevention scams to homeowners in New York who are within 90 days of a potential foreclosure filing. "While my office is committed to crack- ing down on scam operations that target struggling New Yorkers, the most powerful tool against these frauds is to ensure that consumers are informed and aware of the free services that are available to them through our Homeowner Protection Program," Schneiderman said. "rough our new education initiative, we're putting facts in the hands of those who are at immediate risk of foreclosure—and at immediate risk of getting scammed. I encourage all homeowners to utilize AGScamHelp to check a company of- fering to help with your mortgage and report potential scams to our office in real-time." Foreclosure rescue scams generally require homeowners facing foreclosure to pay upfront fees for their services, which are purported to be lowering mortgage payments or reducing principal through negotiating with the lender or servicer. After collecting the upfront fees, the scam operations fail to deliver on their promises of negotiating lower payments, increasing the risk of foreclosure. Homeowners in New York submitted more than 2,700 foreclosure scam complaints from March 2010 to September 2014, accord- ing to a new report by the Center for New York City Neighborhoods and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Only Florida and California received more fore- closure scam complaints during that period. ese complaints in New York documented more than $8.25 million in losses, or an aver- age of $4,183 per homeowner; however, that dollar figure can often be raised due to the loss of more money when the homes fall into foreclosure as a result of the rescue scams. "As we continue to promote programs that keep homeowners in their homes and help them exit foreclosure, we must ensure that we remain vigilant in identifying and rooting out scams perpetrated by fraudulent compa- nies," New York City Public Advocate Letitia James said. "e innovative measures being announced by Attorney General Schnei- derman today will protect homeowners at immediate risk of foreclosure and help inform consumers about the growing threat of foreclosure rescue scams. Foreclosure rescue scams disproportionately target low-income, at-risk, and uninformed property owners, and I am proud to stand with Attorney General Schneiderman as he takes substantive action against predatory schemes and seeks to edu- cate homeowners at risk of foreclosure." With AGScamHelp, homeowners can search the company's name to determine if it is a member of the HOPP network or a HUD-certified counseling agency; they can locate the HOPP agency closest to them; they can file a complaint if they suspect they are working with a company or have worked with a company they suspect is guilty of a scam; and they can receive tips on how to spot and avoid foreclosure rescue scams. Fourteen Indicted in New York Over $20 Million Mortgage Loan Fraud Fourteen defendants have been indicted on charges in connection with a massive mortgage fraud conspiracy that was perpe- trated in New York for 10 years, according to an announcement made by Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and George Venizelos, assistant director in charge of the New York Field Of- fice of the FBI, and Carl DuBois, sheriff of Orange County, New York. In all, 15 defendants were charged, with 14 of them being indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud in connection with mortgage and other loans in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Monroe, located in Orange County, New York. In all, the indictment charges various defendants with additional crimes totaling 21 counts that include making false statements to lenders, aggravated identity theft, and theft of public money. Many of the defendants are related members of a family, the Rubins. e indictment charges that the defen- dants fraudulently obtained 20 loans totaling more than $20 million in loan proceeds by providing lenders with materially false infor- mation regarding the defendants' assets, li- abilities, employment, income, bank accounts, and primary residence, among other false information. e indictment states the defen- dants used this money to enrich themselves and their families, and the majority of the loan proceeds went into default. e defen- dants then engaged in various illegal activities to conceal the fraud, which included having different members of the scheme act as bor- rowers, claiming they needed loan proceeds to refinance their primary residence when in fact the property in question was not their primary residence, according to the indictment. While the defendants were claiming to banks they had substantial income in order to obtain millions of dollars in loan proceeds, they were claiming to state and local agencies that they had little or no assets in order to receive public assistance in the form of Med- icaid, Food Stamps, and benefits from the Home Energy Assistance Program. "e charges unsealed today describe a sweeping and cynical fraud. As alleged, the scheme carried out by the Rubins and others ripped off banks, welfare programs, and taxpayers," Bharara said. "It ranged from 2004 to 2014, from Brooklyn to Harlem to Orange County, and the individuals involved alternately played the parts of prince or pauper, depending on which scam was being perpetrated. Now their alleged double dealing will be stopped, and they will have to submit to the truth-seeking process of the criminal justice system." A real estate attorney and a real estate ap- praiser also included among the defendants in addition to the members of the Rubin family. Defendant Martin Kofman acted as a real estate attorney on many of the transactions in which the defendants fraudulently obtained the loans, then distributed the fraudulent loan proceeds among perpetrators of the conspiracy, according to the indictment. Real estate appraiser Pinchus Glauber was alleged to have completed multiple appraisals con- nected to the fraudulent loans and is accused of falsifying information in his appraisals, the indictment said. "In a clear case of double dipping, the de- fendants convinced lenders of their affluence while allegedly accepting aid from govern- ment programs established for the benefit of those less fortunate, profiting from the proceeds of millions of dollars in fraudulently obtained loans and significantly defrauding the government of public money," Venizelos said. "May today's charges remind those who poke holes in the government safety net and exploit gaps in the mortgage and banking sec- tors that they will face the error of their ways."

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