Honorable Lady of San Francisco Found Guilty

A grand jury took one day to find Judy Yeung also known as Miu Wan Yeung guilty of mortgage fraud. The self proclaim Honorable Lady of San Francisco was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, eight counts of wire fraud, and three counts of witness tampering according to press release announced by the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California, Joseph Russoniello.

Ms. Yeung along with two mortgage brokers between December 2004 and January 2007 recruited five straw buyers to use their good credit and identities to submit mortgage loan applications to lending institutions. The loans were granted and the fraud resulted in an approximate six million five hundred thousand dollar scam. Trail documents revealed that Ms. Yeung did not submit mortgage loan applications under her own applications under her own name due to her bad credit.

Ms. Yeung in addition to recruiting straw buyers refinanced her Balboa Terrace property by fraudulent means in order to acquire cash to pay off existing loans. She obtained over six hundred thousand dollars via this method of fraud.

The scheme to defraud involved submitting fraudulent mortgage loan applications and fraudulent supporting loan documentation to Washington Mutual and J.P. Morgan Chase. The applications submitted stated inflated income, assets, and credit positions of the straw buyers recruited by Ms. Yeung. Ms. Yeung in addition to these submissions induced another individual to forge letters from Hang Sang Bank that showed the straw buyers had more assets in their accounts then they did. Lending institutions used that information to fund the mortgage loans. Ms. Yeung had induced the straw buyers and the bank represents with monitory amounts of twenty to forty thousand dollars.

Witnesses at Mr. Yeung’s trail stated that she provided them with business cards that contained the title “Honorable Lady of San Francisco”.  She promised to further their careers in political circles by using her political connections in the San Francisco area. Ms. Yeung also tampered with the witness by telling the straw buyers to lie to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Investigators.

Ms. Yeung, age 58, from Mountain View, California was original indicted on April 9, 2009. The two mortgage brokers in the case were charged in the conspiracy. They both pleaded guilty to wire fraud and are awaiting sentencing.

United States Attorney, Joseph Russoniello stated that the conviction against Ms. Yeung’s should be taken as an affirmation of the efforts to arrest and prosecute mortgage fraud. Mortgage fraud weakened our economic system and left irreparable damage to households, neighborhoods, and communities. Brokers with no scruples often engage borrowers who know better to exaggerate their qualifications for loans that they cannot afford on a property that is been given an inflated value. We owe it to the property owners who stay in their homes and struggle to meet their monthly payments to flush out the perpetrators and abettors of mortgage fraud. This office continues to work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies to bring these individuals who commit fraud to justice.