Details snowball in Crisp & Cole hearings
| Thursday, Jul 31 2008 10:17 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 01:39 PM
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Carl Cole waits for the start of his hearing on July 28.
David Crisp waits for the start of his hearing on July 28.
Boxes upon boxes of evidence sit behind the prosecution desk in the basement of the Masonic Temple on 18th Street, before the start of the Crisp & Cole Real Estate hearing Monday afternoon.
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A home Kyle Carter sold to David Crisp in 2005 again played a part in testimony Thursday as state regulators continued their mortgage fraud case against the former principals of Crisp & Cole Real Estate.
Carter, a well-known former homebuilder in Bakersfield, had already testified under subpoena Wednesday he and Crisp, 28, had a written agreement for Carter to lease the home from Crisp after the sale.
Crisp did not disclose the agreement to lenders, Wednesday’s proceedings in the administrative hearing established, instead claiming he was buying the house as his primary residence.
More loan details for the southwest Bakersfield property, at 11402 Marazion Hill Court, came to light Thursday when a Chicago-area senior underwriter from Washington Mutual Bank answered questions from the California Department of Real Estate’s lawyer.
Attorney Michael B. Rich asked the underwriter about a letter in Crisp’s loan file explaining his family’s reason for moving to the new house.
The underwriter, Julie Korman, said lenders asked for the explanation because the move looked like a downgrade: the Marazion Hill property was valued at $200,000 less than the Crisps’ current home, she said, and was smaller.
Portions of Crisp’s letter were read into the record: “My wife and I fell in love with the floor plan,” it read.
The letter listed a courtyard, waterfall and second story that could be used entirely by the kids as amenities that made it a move up, not a downgrade.
The only thing missing was a pool, Crisp’s letter said, and he “planned to have one built by summer.”
“I intend to leave my house” to my younger siblings and my mother, Crisp’s letter finished.
The loan agreement required the Crisps to live in the house for a year in order to get the $630,000 loan Washington Mutual’s subsidiary awarded.
State regulators, who in September filed a 25-page complaint against Crisp & Cole and several former staffers, allege Crisp never moved in and never intended to live in the house.
The loan was brokered by Crisp & Cole’s mortgage arm, Tower Lending.
The loan interviewer is listed as Carl Cole, 61, Crisp’s former business partner, whose real estate license is also on the line in the hearings, which started Monday.
Cole’s lawyer, Glenn Kottcamp of Fresno, said he’ll make a case his client’s signature was forged on many of the documents being entered as evidence.
ACCRUALS
Also Thursday:
• Details of three bank transactions involving the company and former employee Sneha Mohammadi were entered into the record without explanation. All were more than $500,000 on May 4, 2006, testimony from a Wells Fargo staffer indicated.
Rich, the state’s attorney, said the information will later be used to support allegations Mohammadi was a “straw buyer” employed by Crisp to funnel transactions for the company’s benefit.
Mohammadi, who was named in the complaint, has agreed to have her broker’s license revoked by the department.
• More evidence of false employment claims by Crisp’s wife, Jennifer Crisp, was brought forth.
In one loan file, her employment was listed as the owner of Jennifer Crisp Consultants; her alleged client list included Kyle Carter and Crisp & Cole. Cole was listed as the loan interviewer.
• A file of former employee Robinson Nguyen’s $645,000 loans for a southwest home on Ordsall Street stated he was self-employed as a real estate consultant, testimony revealed, and did not disclose his employment with Crisp & Cole — something that would have made a difference in the funding decision, the Washington Mutual underwriter said. Crisp & Cole took in more than $38,000 in commissions, testimony revealed.
Cole was listed as loan interviewer.
• Timothy Hubbell, the Bakersfield accountant who on Wednesday testified his signature was forged on a letter in one of the loan files, was called back by Cole’s lawyer.
A letter written to Hubbell by his former business partner, accountant Kevin Sluga, Crisp’s father-in-law, was entered as evidence. The letter was an apology for creating the forged document, saying Sluga would take responsibility if any problems should arise for his involvement in some of the Crisp & Cole loans.
LONG WAIT
The public will likely have to wait months before learning results of the hearing after testimony ends, said Joe Carrillo, senior deputy commissioner of the Department of Real Estate.
The administrative law judge hearing the case for the state Office of Administrative Hearings, Humberto Flores, will write a proposed decision that will then be sent to state Real Estate Commissioner Jeff Davi. The commissioner will issue the final decision, which will be made public, Carrillo said.
Any of the parties can appeal that decision.
The hearing will resume at 9 a.m. Monday. No action will take place Friday.
The public may attend proceedings, held in the basement of the Masonic Temple, 1920 18th St.
