Streamwood man among seven indicted on fraud charges
Seven people, including a Streamwood man who co-owned a Chicago condominium building and two loan officers, have been indicted on a charge of allegedly participating in an $8.8 million fraud scheme involving 35 mortgage loans.
The federal indictment alleges that most of the mortgages were obtained to finance the purchase of condominium units in a building at 4725 S. Michigan Ave. by straw buyers, including Chicago police officer John Welch and others.
Yaseen Ahmed, 37, of Streamwood, who co-owned the building, and co-defendant Eliot Higueros, 41, of Chicago, who allegedly recruited straw buyers, caused proceeds of the fraud to be disbursed to themselves and multiple companies they owned or controlled, according to the charges filed by the U.S. attorneys office for the Northern District of Illinois.
All seven defendants, who will be arraigned at a later date in U.S. District Court, were charged with various counts of wire fraud in an 11-count indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of $8.8 million.
Ahmed, who was charged with 10 counts of wire fraud, was co-owner of a company that owned the Michigan Avenue building. Other properties involved in the alleged scheme were located at 3318 W. Monroe St., 7919-21 S. Phillips Ave., 1349 N. Sedgwick St. and 2012 W. Thomas St., all in Chicago.
According to the indictment, between 2006 and 2008, Ahmed, his co-defendants and others allegedly schemed to obtain the fraudulent mortgages by making false representations in loan applications, supporting documents and HUD-1 settlement statements concerning the buyers’ employment, financial condition, assets, true source of down payments and intention to occupy the residence.
As part of the scheme, Higueros, who was charged in all 11 counts, allegedly recruited Welch, 34, of Chicago; Amanda Fanaro, 28, of Oswego; and Kristen Daugherty, 28, of Erie, Col., and formerly of Oswego, as well as seven other unnamed individuals to serve as nominee buyers.
Ahmed and Higueros allegedly referred the straw buyers to licensed loan officers, including co-defendants Razzak Khader, 33, of Morton Grove, and Theodore Cardenas, 42, of Westmont, to arrange for the buyers to obtain fraudulent mortgage loans.
Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and restitution is mandatory. If convicted, the court may impose an alternate fine totaling twice the loss to any victim or twice the gain to the defendant, whichever is greater.
The charges were announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and Barry McLaughlin, special agent-in-charge of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General in Chicago.