Rebecca Marie Cohn, also known as Rebecca Marie Stanton, has pled guilty in federal court to making false statements to financial institutions linked to real estate settlements. According to U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes for the District of Maryland, the guilty plea involves cooperation from the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General.
From 2013 to 2019, Cohn was a settlement and title processor at Residential Title & Escrow Company in Owings Mills, Maryland. Her role involved creating and reviewing HUD-1 Settlement Statements for financial institutions, documenting incoming funds and disbursements for real estate closings, and providing documentation of equity injections in transactions.
Cohn's activities involved collaboration with co-defendants Mehul Ramesh Khatiwala, Rajendra G. Parikh, Jennifer H. Watkins, and entities related to them. The co-defendants previously pled guilty to conspiring to obtain loans for buying and selling hotels as part of a hotel-flipping strategy.
"Flipping" refers to purchasing property to sell at a higher price for profit. The group used shell companies with no significant business activity to buy hotel properties before forming second companies to sell the hotels at increased prices. Cohn processed settlements for the resale phase.
Loans for these transactions were sought through the Small Business Administration’s Section 7(a) Program, which guarantees and insures a large percentage of the loans, with an investment requirement from the borrower.
Between June and August 2019, Cohn worked with the co-defendants, aware that false information was being presented in HUD-1 Settlement Statements. Cohn falsified equity injections and misrepresented funds previously used in transactions. This impacted the financial institutions' decisions to extend loans.
On July 23, 2019, Cohn submitted a false HUD-1 Settlement Statement linked to an SBA guaranteed loan to North State Bank. The statement overrepresented deposit amounts and inaccurately claimed a settlement date. She used loan proceeds to complete a hotel purchase before the selling entity owned it.
Cohn faces a maximum of 30 years in federal prison for making false statements to a financial institution. However, actual sentences are typically less, with final decisions made by a federal district court judge based on U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney Hayes acknowledged the efforts of the FHFA-OIG and FDIC-OIG in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Harry M. Gruber, Evelyn L. Cusson, and Ari D. Evans are handling prosecution, supported by Paralegal Specialists Joanna B.N. Huber and Zharde Todman.
For more details about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office and its community resources, visit www.justice.gov/usao-md.