Defendant is a Fugitive and Should be Considered Armed and Dangerous
OAKLAND – LAWFUEL – Law News Network – United States Attorney Kevin V. Ryan announced that a federal grand jury in Oakland indicted Edward Batayeh, a.k.a. Ed Bhataybh, on charges that he executed a mortgage fraud scheme to defraud financial institutions of over $13 million. The defendant, the Executive Vice President and CFO of CHL Mortgage Group fled from FBI Special Agents this morning in a maroon 2003 BMW X3 with a license plate of 5ETZ317. CHL Mortgage Group (CHL), Batayeh’s former company was located at 2000 Crow Canyon Place, Suite 400, in San Ramon, California. Bateyah’s residence is located at 4290 Chloe Drive, Concord, California. Anyone with information regarding Mr. Bateyah’s whereabouts should contact the FBI at 415-553-7400. Bateyah should be considered armed and dangerous.
According to the indictment, Mr. Bateyah, 39, is alleged to have conspired from March 2000 to December 2004 to defraud four financial institutions (noted below) by “double banking” fraudulent loans by selling variations of the same loan to multiple investors without the investors’ knowledge. Bateyah allegedly carried out the conspiracy by sending fraudulent loan packages (that included mortgage notes, deeds of trust, loan applications and verifications of employment) to financial institutions without the property owner’s knowledge. The defendant and others also allegedly obtained properties in the name of the CHL employees, and then obtained multiple fraudulent loans on these properties. Recently, Batayeh sent a false resume using the name of Ed Bhataybh to Aurora Loan Services, Inc., one of the previously defrauded financial institutions.
The indictment alleges the following four counts of bank fraud:
Dates
Financial Institution
Amount of Fraudulent Loans
6/30/04 – 10/14/04
Gateway Bank
$6,272,860
7/03 – 7/04
Aurora Loan Services, Inc.
$1,740,000
7/04 – 10/04
First Collateral
$2,684,905
4/26/04 – 8/30/04
First Horizon Home Loan Corp.
$2,341,438
The maximum statutory penalty for each count of conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, is 5 years and a fine of $250,000. The maximum statutory penalty for bank fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344(1), is 30 years in prison, and a fine of $1,000,000, plus restitution. The maximum statutory penalty for submitting a false document to a federally insured financial institution, in violation of U.S.C. § 1001(a)(3) is 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. 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, Mr. Bateyah must be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Maureen Bessette is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of legal techs Cynthia Daniel and Margaret Glyer. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI.
Further Information:
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 Luke Macaulay at (415) 436-6757 or by email at Luke.Macaulay@usdoj.gov.
