Anna Sorokina Kuzmenko, Mortgage Fraud, California 2007

A Sacramento woman has been found guilty of her role in a mortgage fraud scheme that made her and her family members nearly $177,000.

Anna Sorokina Kuzmenko, 33, was convicted of two counts of wire fraud in a federal jury trial, which lasted for nine days in Sacramento, California.

According to court documents and evidence presented at the trial, Kuzmenko served as a straw buyer for a house in Carmichael in February 2007. She applied for two loans to finance the entire purchase, but falsely represented that she was an orthodontist making $36,000 per month, had $42,000 in her bank account, was a United States citizen, and would live in the house she was purchasing.

In fact, evidence at the trial showed that Kuzmenko was not an orthodontist, declared only $13,000 in income for 2006 and none for 2007, had little to no money in her bank account, was not a citizen, and never lived in the house she purchased.

The evidence also showed that the bank was told the sales price was $1 million, but the seller had agreed to receive only approximately $800,000 from the transaction and to give the remaining money back to the scheme participants. Bank records showed that Kuzmenko’s husband and other family members received almost $177,000 through the scheme. Additionally, two of Kuzmenko’s family members received approximately $25,000 in commission payments based on the fraudulently procured loans.

Kuzmenko defaulted on the mortgages for the Carmichael house in September 2007, and the property was foreclosed upon by April 7, 2008.

U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner stated, ‘Mortgage fraud cases can be very challenging, but this office has developed considerable expertise in prosecuting them… We are pleased that the jury held Ms. Kuzmenko accountable for her crime, and we will continue our efforts to hold accountable those who enriched themselves through fraud, and who contributed to the financial meltdown that hit our communities so hard.’

The case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Lee S. Bickley and Todd A. Pickles are prosecuting the case.

Kuzmenko is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge John A. Mendez on December 9, 2014. She faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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