Galatzan of the Asset Forfeiture Section.Lakefront homes foreclosures for sale. Yanniello of the General Crimes Section, and Jonathan S. Quinn of the Major Frauds Section, Ian V. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kerry L. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, Office of Inspector General investigated this matter. is unremorseful and unrepentant, and would seemingly do it all again if she could avoid being caught.” “Rather than act in the public’s best interests…she used her position to line her own pockets. “The crime that committed was egregious,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum. In total, Hernandez received more than $1 million in benefits, including the cash kickbacks and rent that she collected and equity that she built in the Fannie-Mae property she bought for herself. Hernandez also helped family members become Fannie Mae-approved brokers, and then steered nearly $80 million in Fannie Mae listings to them, resulting in nearly $2 million in commissions in less than three years. Hernandez then paid for the property using a duffel bag filled with $286,450 in cash, which she gave to her sister-in-law to bring to the sale’s closing. She ensured that multiple offers higher than her own below-market price were rejected. Hernandez – using intermediaries and alter egos – bought at least one Fannie Mae-owned property in Sonoma for herself at a below-market price. As part of the scheme, she also received bribes for approving below-market sale prices of Fannie Mae-owned properties to the corrupt brokers. In violation of Fannie Mae rules and federal law, Hernandez demanded and received bribes from the brokers as a condition of her assignment of properties to them.
Brokers sought the listings because they would obtain commissions on them when the properties were sold. As part of its operations, Fannie Mae acquires properties through foreclosures and other methods, and sales representatives then manage and sell those properties for Fannie Mae’s benefit.Īs a sales representative, Hernandez was responsible for picking real estate brokers to whom she assigned Fannie Mae-owned property listings.
From 2010 until 2015, Hernandez worked as a sales representative for Fannie Mae at its Irvine office.
FANNIE MAE FORECLOSURES GA TRIAL
The evidence at trial showed that the bribery scheme arose out of Hernandez’s misuse of her official position with the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), a government-sponsored entity under the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The brokers who benefited from the sales paid the bribes and kickbacks to Hernandez in cash, which sometimes was stuffed into envelopes and delivered in parking lots, airports and coffee shops. Guilford, who also ordered her to pay $982,516 in restitution to Fannie Mae.Īfter a five-day trial in February 2019, a jury found Hernandez guilty of two wire fraud counts involving deprivation of honest services in furtherance of her scheme, which resulted in more than $120 million in sales and more than $3 million in corrupt commissions to brokers. Shirene Hernandez, 47, of Corona, was sentenced by United States District Judge Andrew J. A former Fannie Mae employee was sentenced this week to 76 months in federal prison for a multimillion-dollar scheme to take bribes and to discount sales of Fannie Mae-owned properties to herself and to real estate brokers in exchange for cash kickbacks.
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