Three people from Atlanta were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy to commit financial institution fraud involving reverse mortgages.
The group included Jonathan Alfred Kimpson, 27, Gia Harris, 26, and Kelsey Torrey Hull, 38, of Lithonia and were charged on Feb. 25 on a charge of financial institution fraud and conspiracy.
“These defendants are charged with profiting from the corruption of an FHA-insured program designed to assist seniors with either cash for equity in their home or with funds toward the purchase of a home,” said Sally Quillian Yates, Acting United States Attorney. “These defendants allegedly altered real estate records, used fake documents, and posed as realtors. This abuse of the system took money away from qualified senior citizens who need these funds. With these charges, we have taken the first steps to stop this crime and to reverse the damage these crimes have caused.”
According to the indictment, Kimpson, Harris, and Hull allegedly faked the required down payments by senior citizens to establish the equity needed in the home to qualify for the FHA-insured reverse mortgage. The “gift” letters ranged from $50,000 to $105,000 and also used fake HUD-1 statements reflecting the sale of non existent assets closed by fictitious law firms to show the source of the down payments said a statement.
In addition, Kimpson is being charged with aggravated identity theft and wire fraud which he allegedly used to steal identities of realtors to create fake Georgia MLS records to create property sales at inflated amounts to support many of the properties fraudulent appraisals.
The Kimpson indictment charges a conspiracy count which carries a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million, a wire fraud count with a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, and three aggravated identity theft counts which each carry a maximum sentence of up to two years in prison and a fine of $250,000 with at least two years required to be imposed consecutive to the sentence on the other counts.
The Harris indictment charges a conspiracy count which carries a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million. The Hull criminal information charges a bank fraud count which carries a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million, and a conspiracy count which carries a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.
Inspector General Kenneth Donahue, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said, “HUD’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgages Program was created to help senior citizens find greater financial security through FHA-insured reverse mortgages loans. The HUD Office of Inspector General will aggressively investigate those who would prey on America’s senior citizens through reverse mortgage fraud, and encourages anyone having knowledge of such schemes to contact our HUD hotline.”
