A Citrus Heights man was arraigned today in federal court in Sacramento on mortgage fraud charges.
Daniel Gherasim, 36, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday for bank fraud, false statements on a loan and credit application, money laundering, and structuring in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud a bank in obtaining a home equity loan, according to a Department of Justice news release.
According to the indictment, in November 2008, Gherasim submitted a fraudulent loan application for a home equity line of credit that he took out on a home he owned at the time in Folsom. The application inflated the amount of equity he had in the property.
After receiving the $215,800 home equity line of credit, Gherasim allegedly transferred the money to another bank account he held, in part by writing checks to himself in amounts of more than $10,000. The indictment alleges that he then withdrew money from that account in increments ranging from $490 to $9,500 to evade currency reporting requirements.
Gherasim entered a not-guilty plea during his arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Dale A. Drozd. He is out of custody on a $100,000 bond.
The case is the result of a joint investigation by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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