Two Persons Have Been Convicted for Foreclosure Related Fraud

With the increase in number of foreclosures a new menace has reared its head – fraud related to foreclosures. A federal jury has indicted and convicted two persons for having practised fraud by filing bankruptcy petitions. They were trying to stop foreclosures by doing so. The jury declared Isaac Yaas, aged 42, and Robert Andrew Blechman aged 39 guilty on six counts of mail fraud and another six counts for aggravated identity theft.

They have been accused of using the bankruptcy system to run an illegal foreclosure rescue racket that has caused harm to foreclosure victims. Thereby they have threatened the “integrity of the bankruptcy system” said USA trustee for Kansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico – Richard Wieland. The fraudsters took advantage of a system by which an automatic stay begins with the filing of bankruptcy. The stay stops all actions of creditors inclusive of foreclosure proceedings.

Isaac Yaas and Robert Andrew Blechman ran an enterprise named Stopco. It assured those who were facing foreclosure that in lieu of a monthly fee the victims would be able to keep their houses and not lose it to foreclosure. Stopco’s line of action after that was to file bankruptcy in Kansas City, Topeka and Wichita in the names of businesses that did not exist. The latter claimed to be part owners of the bank reo homes. False names were used in the bankruptcy petitions. The social security numbers were also falsified together with the addresses of creditors. The latter finally turned to be the mailboxes of UPS shops in Lenexa, Wichita, Olathe and Overland Park.

Since 2006 Stopco had halted foreclosures on properties that had been valued at being over $50 million. These were located in California, Kansas, Tennessee and Maryland.

Blechman and Yaas each will be facing the maximum sentence of 30 years prison term and fines ranging up to $1 million for each of the fraud counts. The fines would be $250,00 for each falsification of identity.

For this investigation various departments worked in tandem – the attorney’s office of USA, the FBI, the USA Postal Inspection Service and the Social Security Administration’s office of the Inspector General.

These fraudsters and scammers are like vultures picking the bones of those who are already half dead by the attack by foreclosures. The cheats take advantage of the traumatized condition of the foreclosure victims who are ready to clutch at any straw to save houses that are their homes.