CLEVELAND,Ohio -
Attorney General Mike DeWine, the Attorney General's Ohio Organized Crime
Investigations Commission (OOCIC), and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason today
announced that five defendants pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud crimes covering
more than 500 real estate transactions totaling $50 million, involving $44 million
in fraudulent loans, and earning $31 million in profits.
The charges were
filed in August of 2009, after an 18-month investigation conducted by the Cuyahoga
County Mortgage Task Force, which operates under the authorization of the Attorney
General's OOCIC.
"Today's court action proves that criminals who defraud
people in this state will not get away with their devious schemes," Ohio Attorney
General Mike DeWine said. "We will continue to go after those who commit mortgage
fraud, using the power of local, state, and federal law enforcement. The
18-month investigation by the Cuyahoga County Mortgage Task Force, which operates
under the Attorney General's Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission,
unearthed the evidence, linked the lies, and connected the dots of deception."
Today, Uri Gofman, 39, of Beachwood, pleaded guilty to eleven (11) counts
including; one (1) count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, one (1)
count of theft, two (2) counts of money laundering, one (1) count of
telecommunications fraud, and six (6) counts of tampering with records. Gofman
orchestrated one of the nation's largest mortgage fraud cases by enlisting family,
friends and others to invest in his real estate company, Real Asset Fund, with
promise of profit. Gofman's enterprise began with seed money from an investor who
transferred funds from an Eastern European bank account in Latvia. Gofman's
typical scheme involved setting up straw buyers to purchase homes; falsely
claiming home improvements were performed or inflated the value of improvements on
houses in order to refinance them; and then selling houses to unqualified buyers
with assistance of real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and title companies.
Gofman and others defrauded lenders through loan application fraud, down payment
fraud, and loan distribution fraud. Gofman agreed to pay $1 million in
restitution, forfeit $600,000 in seized cash, forfeit 43 houses valued at $4.1
million in real estate to the Cuyahoga County Land Bank, and cooperate in future
prosecutions. Gofman will be sentenced to 8.25 years on February 1, 2012, at 10:00
a.m. in Cuyahoga County Judge Daniel Gaul's courtroom.
Anthony Capuozzo, 41,
of Concord, pleaded guilty to ten (10) counts including; one (1) count of
attempted engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, two (2) counts of money
laundering, six (6) counts of tampering with records, and (1) count of
telecommunications fraud. Capouzzo owned, operated, and controlled Family Title.
Capouzzo executed a fake down payment scheme by providing lenders with false
settlement statements misleading lenders into believing that the buyer was making
the down payment when in reality, the buyer was not. Capouzzo was sentenced
today to 1 year in prison consecutive to the 26 month federal sentence he has
already received, which Capouzzo beings serving January 10, 2012.
The Real
Asset Fund and Karka, Inc. were Gofman's business entities which owned or
controlled the real estate. Clear Choice Realty, also owned by Gofman, sold the
real estate. The Real Asset Fund pleaded guilty to one (1) count of engaging in a
pattern of corrupt activity and one (1) count of theft, Clear Choice Realty
pleaded guilty to one (1) count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and
two (2) counts of receiving stolen property, and Karka, Inc. pleaded guilty to one
(1) count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, one (1) count of theft,
and three (3) counts of money laundering.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill
Mason said, "These criminals are mortgage fraud predators and deserve every year
in prison that they receive. While these hoodlums were illegally making money they
were devastating our neighborhoods with foreclosures."
This scheme resulted
in 358 of 453 homes going into foreclosure in the
Cleveland-area.
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