CHICAGO MAN ARRESTED FOR MORTGAGE FRAUD

Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced today the arrest of a Lithuanian national in connection with a $3.7 million mortgage fraud scheme.

TOMAS LEISKUNAS, age 28, of 4803 N. Harlem Avenue in Chicago, who is also known as Elidijus Pocevicius, was arrested at his home late yesterday, without incident, by FBI Special Agents. LEISKUNAS was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with violation of the Federal Wire Fraud statute, which is a felony offense.

According to the complaint, LEISKUNAS engaged in a scheme to fraudulently obtain mortgages by submitting loan applications in which he falsified his employment information and income, omitted his liabilities, and misrepresented his intent to occupy six different properties. From September 7, 2006 through November 2, 2006, various lenders relied on these false statements to issue LEISKUNAS over $3.7 million in loans for the purchase of the six properties. In each of the cases, the lenders fully financed the purchases by providing LEISKUNAS with a primary mortgage loan for 80 per cent of the purchase price and a secondary loan for the remaining 20 per cent.

The properties, lenders, and loan amounts in question are as follows:

164 Mayo Ct., Elmhurst, Illinois (Washington Mutual - $601,500)
183 Mayo Ct., Elmhurst, Illinois (WMC Mortgage - $630,000)
160 Mayo Ct., Elmhurst, Illinois (21 st Century Mortgage - $607,300)
2041 Westover Rd., North Aurora, Illinois (People’s Choice Home Loan - $580,000)
702 N. Morrison Ave., Palatine, Illinois (Aegis Mortgage - $732,079)
2049 Westover Rd., North Aurora, Illinois (Wilmington Finance - $584,000)

It is alleged that LEISKUNAS falsely represented to the lenders that he was the owner of Tom’s Hardwood Flooring, a business he had been operating for six years with a monthly income between $14,500 and $16,250. Investigation by the FBI found no such entity as Tom’s Hardwood Flooring. The complaint further alleges that LEISKUNAS actually worked as an independent contractor for a local real estate investment firm with annual compensation of $24,800 in 2005 and $23,500 in 2006. Moreover, LEISKUNAS failed to disclose prior loans to each subsequent lender in the scheme, thus vastly understating his outstanding debt position, according to the complaint.

The complaint also alleges that there is evidence to indicate that LEISKUNAS was acting as a “straw buyer” for currently uncharged co-conspirators. An FBI financial analysis of LEISKUNAS’ bank account indicates that he may have personally received approximately $106,000 in kickbacks relating to his straw-buyer role.

All six of the mortgage loans detailed above quickly went into default status with at least four of them being “first payment defaults.”

Following his arrest, LEISKUNAS appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole in Chicago where he was formally charged. LEISKUNAS was ordered held without bond, pending his next scheduled court appearance and is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Chicago. If convicted of the charge filed against him, LEISKUNAS faces a possible sentence of thirty (30) years incarceration.

Investigation into this and other unrelated mortgage fraud cases are ongoing. Anyone with information about possible mortgage fraud schemes is asked to call the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700.

The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Additional copies of the attached wanted flyer are available from the Chicago FBI’s press office at (312) 829-1199.

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