Bankruptcy

Feds Prosecuting Man in Foreclosure Scam

By J. Michael McBride

Isaac Yass, in the United States on an employment visa, is being extradited back to Topeka, Kansas to stand trial for six counts of mail fraud and six counts of aggravated identify theft. Yass, aka Itsik Yass, was arrested in Los Angeles last week with $10,000 cash and four packed bags in his apartment. At the hearing in California after the Magistrate Judge set bail at $500,000 cash or secured bond, Yass told the court he could afford to post $1 million secured bond. The magistrate judge stayed his release order giving the government time to appeal his ruling. Monday that release order was revoked by U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson and Yass is being held pending trial. No trial date has been set yet, and no defense attorney has been listed in Kansas court filings.

The indictment accuses Yass of fraudulently filing bogus bankruptcy petitions for nonexistent businesses claiming to be a Kansas resident. His company, Stopco, would charge a monthly fee to homeowners who were trying to avoid foreclosure by filing a bankruptcy petition that listed an ownership interest in the property to be foreclosed upon. Yass stopped foreclosure sales on properties valued at $50 million across the country--$8.5 million of which was from his Kansas bankruptcy filings. Similar filings are also being investigated that were made in Tennessee, Maryland, and California. Yass is accused of making more than 80 fraudulent bankruptcy filing in California between January 13, 2006 and February 11, 2008. The investigation started when the Kansas Bankruptcy court received a suspicious filing in the mail.

If convicted, Yass faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $1 million on each mail fraud count and a mandatory two years and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count of aggravated identify theft.

You can read the entire article at: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/03/04/ap4729994.html

Chandra

Full post as published by Texas Lawyer Blog on March 06, 2008 (boomark / email).