Archives

WASHINGTON, DC - November 17, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) today announced that it has shut down 85 alleged online mortgage modification scams that prey on vulnerable homeowners through Web banners and other Web advertisements. SIGTARP investigates mortgage modification schemes in which companies charge struggling homeowners a fee in exchange for false promises of lowering the homeowner’s mortgage through TARP’s housing program known as the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Google, in cooperation with an ongoing criminal SIGTARP investigation of these scams, has suspended advertising relationships with more than 500 Internet advertisers and agents associated with the 85 alleged online mortgage fraud schemes and related deceptive advertising.

Portland, OR - September 6, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Next week, President Barack Obama plans to lay out an agenda to jumpstart the American economy and create jobs. Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley is urging him to use that opportunity to take aggressive action to keep families in their homes and to finance energy efficiency renovations to reduce energy use and get Americans back to work.

EUGENE, OR - August 4, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, Del Barber, Jr., 46, of Bend, Oregon, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Michael R. Hogan to 15 months in prison for mortgage fraud and health care fraud and was ordered to pay over $200,000 in restitution to the victims of his frauds.

PORTLAND, OR - July 13, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Two members of an alleged drug trafficking organization were arraigned today on money laundering and marijuana trafficking charges involving the abuse of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP), U.S. Attorney Dwight C. Holton announced. Tu Ngoc Tran, 37, and Minhthy Ngoc Nguyen, aka Minh Thy Nguyen, Minaty Nguyen, Minthy Nguyen, 32, were each indicted on charges of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute more than 1,000 marijuana plants, manufacturing over 100 marijuana plants, and money laundering.

WASHINGTON, DC - June 14, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) offered the Regulation of Mortgage Servicing Act of 2011 as an amendment to the Public Works and Economic Development Reauthorization Bill. The mortgage servicing bill would help homeowners stay in their homes by ending some of the well-documented abuses by mortgage servicers leading to foreclosures, and would produce a positive ripple effect through the economy by reducing the overall number of foreclosures.

PORTLAND, OR - June 14, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Jennifer Venable, 29, of Beaverton, Oregon, was sentenced by the Honorable Robert E. Jones of the United States District Court on June 8, 2011, to 5 years’ probation and ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution relative to her January 13, 2011 wire fraud conviction.

PORTLAND, OR - June 2, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Oregon's Senator Jeff Merkley issued the following statement on news that home prices have fallen to their lowest level since the collapse of the housing market

WASHINGTON, DC - May 12, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) today introduced the “Regulation of Mortgage Servicing Act” to help homeowners stay in their homes by making the rules for mortgage servicers more fair and transparent.

PORTLAND, OR - March 7, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley joined Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) in an effort to strengthen mortgage protections for servicemembers once they return home from duty.

Washington, D.C. - March 4, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- A group of 18 U.S. Senators, led by Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), urged government agencies to take action to prevent foreclosures and help families keep their homes.The senators made their request in a letter sent to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke

Washington, D.C. - January 20, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley penned a letter to President Obama today urging a greater focus on helping families stay in their homes and avoid foreclosure. In the letter, Merkley stressed that a strong housing market is essential to future job creation and noted that next week’s State of the Union address would be an ideal moment to jump start the conversation about how we can decrease foreclosures, stabilize the housing market, and help spur economic recovery.

Portland, OR - January 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley today visited the North Portland home of a family who is struggling to keep their home and unveiled his plan to address the ongoing foreclosure crisis and boost the nation’s troubled housing market. A range of economists have concluded that repairing the housing market is critical to adding jobs and accelerating the slow recovery.

WASHINGTON, DC - December 7, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced a commitment to insure a mortgage loan to the Coquille Valley Hospital District in Coquille, Oregon. The $22 million loan is made possible through the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) Section 242 Hospital Mortgage Insurance Program.

PORTLAND, OR - December 6, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Beniamin Lucian Lucescu, 41, of Portland, Oregon, was convicted yesterday of the crimes of bank fraud and wire fraud following a three-day jury trial. Lucescu is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman on February 11, 2011 for sentencing on these charges.

November 22, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General John Kroger today announced the conviction of a Medford-area developer and mortgage broker in a complex real estate Ponzi scheme to defraud investors