Brokerage Firm Owners Indicted In Denver Mortgage Fraud

Seven individuals were indicted by a Denver, Colorado grand jury on January 4th. The indictments were sealed until January 27th after all the defendants were arrested. Several of the indictments were against Brokerage Firm owners conducting business in the Denver area. The charges announced by the Denver District Attorney, Mitchell Morrissey allege that the seven individuals involved ran a conspiracy to defraud mortgage lenders and reach beyond the seven individuals that were indicted on January 4th.

The seven individuals indicted included the following individuals who have all been indicted with organized crime, theft, forgery, conspiracy to commit theft, and conspiracy to commit forgery.

Scott Steven Richardson, age 37, co-owner of Absolute Lending Solutions, LLC. Richardson co-owned the company which was located at 12973 Locust St., Thornton, CO and 11990 Grant St. #553, Northglenn, CO.

Thomas Sarantinos, age 24, co-owner of Absolute Lending Solutions, LLC. Sarantinos co-owned the company with Richardson which was located at 12973 Locust St., Thornton, CO and 11990 Grant St. #553, Northglenn, CO.

Douglas Lynn Dean, age 51, a loan officer for Absolute Lending Solutions, LLC was also indicted for his involvement.

Gary Luna, age 26, a loan officer for Absolute Lending Solutions, LLC was also indicted for this involvement.

Michael Spahn, age 43, the owner of MJ Appraisals which is located at 2810 West 114th Court, Westminster, CO.

Wayne Paul Jones, Jr., age 47, owner of Intrepid Investors Corp located at 12572 Clermont St., Thornton, CO and Homeowners Equity Solutions, Inc located at 7450 West 52nd Ave #M201, Arvada, CO.

Jason Randall Webb, age 22, a public notary for the State of Colorado.

The group conspired to commit fraud by conducting business with Jay Donovan Jost, the owner of Broomfield Lending, LLC, MI-T Investments LLC, and Y-zwer Investments, LLC. Mr. Jost would purchase properties falling into foreclosure and then contact Mr. Spahn to aid in locating individuals to purchase the properties. The properties were presented to potential purchasers as investment properties.

Mr. Jost and Mr. Spahn would then contact Mr. Richardson and Mr. Sarantinos at Absolute Lending Solutions for aid in finding potential purchasers or so called investors for the foreclosed properties. Mr. Spahn would appraise the properties above their current property value allowing investors in the scheme to qualify for a mortgage above the actual value of the properties in question.

The scheme ran from January of 2005 to November of 2007 according to court documents. Mr. Jost once the properties sold paid Mr. Spahn from the proceeds of the sales; in total Mr. Jost issued sixty-six checks to Mr. Spahn in an amount of approximately two million, six hundred six thousand dollars. Mr. Spahn during that same period issued fifteen checks to Mr. Richardson and Mr. Sarantinos in an amount of approximately three hundred thousand dollars.

The indictment further charges that the conspirators used fraudulent documents and information to further their scheme. The losses to the mortgage lenders in the case are estimated to be into the millions.

Mr. Richardson who is currently on the work release program and is serving a four year sentence in relation to the theft of an at-risk adult was release on bond in regard to the new charges against him.  Mr. Richardson posted a hundred thousand dollar bond and is scheduled to appear in Denver District Court at 8:30 on February 22nd for arraignment in regard to this new case.

Mr. Sarantinos posted a hundred thousand dollar bond and was released. He is scheduled to appear in Denver District Court at 8:30 on March 3rd for arraignment in regard to this case.

Mr. Dean posted a hundred thousand dollar bond and was released. He was scheduled to appear in Denver District Court at 8:30 on January 28th for arraignment in regard to this case.

Mr. Spahn posted a hundred thousand dollar bond and was released. He is scheduled to appear in Denver District Court at 8:30 on March 2nd for arraignment in regard to this case.

Mr. Jones has not posted bond set at thirty thousand dollars and currently is in Denver County Jail. He is scheduled to appear in Denver District Court at 8:30 on February 22 for arraignment in this case.

Mr. Luna has not posted bond and is currently in custody in Illinois. His bond has been set at one hundred thousand dollars.

Mr. Webb has not posted bond set at thirty thousand dollars and currently is in Denver County Jail. He is scheduled to appear in Denver District Court at 8:30 on March 2nd for arraignment in regard to this case.

Jason Lawrence Lynn owner of Superior Financial Group, LLC, Jason Jay Gallob, owner of Metro Mortgage Banking, Inc., Sharon King, mother in law to Mr. Spahn and a notary public and Candice Bannias, closing agent, notary public and ex-wife to Mr. Webb were also mentioned in the indictment.