Dozens indicted in Chicago mortgage schemes

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against 37 people and four businesses in the Chicago area in five separate mortgage fraud cases involving "scores of homes" and more than $48 million in allegedly fraudulent loans.

Defendants include a vice president of the title company, mortgage brokers, loan officers, real estate investors, appraisers and an attorney, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois said in a press release.

Prosecutors called one of the cases, United States v. Lisnek, et al., "one of the most comprehensive mortgage fraud schemes ever charged" in Chicago.

From 2002-07, prosecutors alleged, 15 defendants and four businesses were involved in the purchase of 70 homes that were made "camera ready" with cosmetic repairs to their exteriors and then resold at "fraudulently inflated" prices two to three times the purchase price. Lenders incurred approximately $5.8 million in losses after being forced to foreclose on the properties, prosecutors said.

Richard Lisnek, 56, a licensed mortgage broker and president of K&L Real Estate Inc. and American Eagle Mortgage Inc., was charged along with his wife, Judy Kien, 50, an attorney and president of D&J Properties II Inc., and 13 other defendants on suspicion of mail fraud and wire fraud in a 22-count indictment returned this week by a federal grand jury.

Other defendants include another mortgage broker, Alex Bulmash, 32, of Lincolnwood; real estate appraisers James Heiland, 63, Brandon Bradford, 37, and Vlad Ostromogilsky, 38; and LaSalle Title Co. and one of its vice presidents, Lynn Liskiewicz, 48, of Chicago.

Condo rebates

Another case, United States v. Askar, et al., involved seven condominiums and two penthouses in a 59-story luxury condo building, "Millennium Centre," in downtown Chicago. ...CONTINUED

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