Well, it's a step in the right direction.

This is a press release from the US Dept. of Justice about the guy that ran the mortgage company we used. Hopefully this is good news for the 823 mortgage holders.

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 9, 2007
CONTACT: Martin C. Carlson
Acting U.S. Attorney
(717) 221-4482
BERKS COUNTY MAN AGREES TO PLEAD GUILTY
Martin C. Carlson, Acting United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced
today that his Office has charged the Berks County man at the center of a multi-million-dollar, failed
mortgage business with Mail Fraud and that he has agreed to plead guilty to the charge.
WESLEY A. SNYDER, age 71, of Oley, Pennsylvania, is charged in a one count Information filed in
U.S. District Court Harrisburg today with Mail Fraud Affecting a Financial Institution, 18 U.S.C. § 1341.
The Information alleges that between 1988 and September of 2007 SNYDER defrauded more than 800
individuals throughout Central and Eastern Pennsylvania via his “Wrap Around, Equity Slide Down
Discount” Mortgage Program and his “Mortgage Participation” Investment Program. The charge carries
a potential penalty of 30 years imprisonment and $1,000,000 fine.
SNYDER has agreed to plead guilty to the charge pursuant to a written plea agreement filed with the
Court. The agreement requires SNYDER to cooperate with the government and to make restitution to
his victims as ordered by the Court. The agreement stipulates the loss in the case is somewhere
between $15 million and $32 million dollars, the exact amount to be determined by the Court prior to
sentencing. Under the terms of the plea agreement the government has reserved its right to
recommend any sentence, up to and including the statutory maximum. No date has yet been set by the
Court for SNYDER’s entry of his guilty plea.
The plea agreement SNYDER signed is expressly contingent upon SNYDER making full and complete
disclosure of his assets to the government. The agreement acknowledges that SNYDER provided the
government a comprehensive Financial Statement on October 24, 2007, which detailed all of the assets
he owned and controlled. The agreement requires SNYDER to “freeze” his assets and not transfer,
dispose, sell, cash, assign, or otherwise encumber any asset, including but not limited to any bank
account, insurance policy, or interest in real estate, without the express knowledge and written consent
of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The agreement also requires SNYDER to submit to interviews regarding
his financial status and, if necessary, to undergo a polygraph examination to ensure his compliance.
The agreement provides that any violation of the agreement by SNYDER would subject him to
sanctions and the possibility the government would ask the Court to be relieved of its obligations
under the plea agreement. SNYDER filed for bankruptcy approximately 7 weeks ago on September 18,
2007, on behalf of six Reading-based business entities he owned and operated, primarily under the
names of Personal Financial Management and Image Masters, Inc. Four days earlier SNYDER had
notified more than 800 customers in Lancaster, Lebanon, Dauphin, Cumberland, York, Berks, and
Schuylkill Counties that he could no longer make required mortgage payments on their behalf.
U.S. Postal Inspectors from Harrisburg executed a search warrant at SNYDER’s Oley, PA residence on
October 12, 2007. The Information filed by the government today alleges that between 1988 and 2007
SNYDER took in more than $65.6 million from 811 Wrap Around mortgage customers but only
forwarded approximately $39.1 million of that amount to their lenders. The Information also alleges
that SNYDER defrauded 31 individual Mortgage Participation investors out of an additional $3,000,000.
Carlson praised the work of the Postal Inspectors in Harrisburg on the case, noting that they quickly
and efficiently investigated an extremely complex and sophisticated white collar fraud. Carlson also
commended the assistance the Inspectors and his Office received from the PA Department of Banking,
the PA Attorney General’s Office, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Douglas Daniel.