Defendant Identified as a result of the HUD’s “FedRent Initiative”
OAKLAND – LAWFUEL – The Law Newswire – United States Attorney Scott N. Schools announced that on Wednesday, May 9, 2007, Marjorie Chatman, 47, of Richmond, California a Social Security Administration (“SSA”) employee was arraigned on an Indictment charging her with five counts of committing mail fraud by devising a scheme to illegally receive funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”). The indictment alleges that Ms. Chatman failed to disclose her salary and employment with the SSA to the Richmond Housing Authority when she submitted forms and applications to receive housing assistance.
Ms. Chatman was arraigned before United States Magistrate Judge Wayne D. Brazil and was released on bond in the amount of $50,000. Her next appearance is scheduled on May 22, 2007 at 9 a.m. before United States District Court Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong in Oakland, California.
The maximum statutory penalty for each count of mail fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341, is 20 years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, 3 years supervised release and a $100 mandatory special assessment. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553. An indictment contains only allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Ms. Chatman is presumed innocent.
Ms. Chatman was identified as a result of the FedRent Initiative launched by the HUD Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) to ensure that federal employees receiving housing benefits from HUD properly disclosed their wages and assets to HUD. The FedRent Initiative was launched in order to uphold public trust and integrity in federal employees.
Shashi Kewalramani is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Lead Legal Assistant Cynthia Daniel. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the SSA-Office of Inspector General and the Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General.
Further Information:
Case #:CR 07-00264 SBA
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Natalya LaBauve at (415) 436-7055 or by email at Natalya.LaBauve@usdoj.gov.
