A former Fannie Mae employee has been charged with taking bribes on real-estate owned properties. It’s the second time an employee from the same office has been accused of such crimes.
Shirlene Hernandez worked as an REO foreclosure specialist for the Federal National Mortgage Association in Irvine, California. She assigned REOs to listing brokers and approved the sales.
When Hernandez, 45, approved the sale of a company-owned foreclosed property, the decision was supposed to be
based on offers submitted by real estate brokers.
But, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Hernandez instead made her decisions based bribes she received from
the brokers. The bribes were made in the form of cash payments, gifts, and other things of value.
In addition, she used
“intermediaries and alter egos” to purchase properties on her behalf at a discount then collected rent proceeds on the properties.
The alleged crimes
took place from at least April 2011 until at least July 2016. In all, she collected more than $1 million in profits.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General uncovered the alleged crimes through an investigation, and an indictment was filed against Hernandez.
The case is similar to one earlier in the decade against former Fannie employee
Armando Granillo — who worked in a similar position at the same Irvine office when he allegedly accepted bribes in 2012. Granillo, who collected just $11,200 in bribes, was indicted in 2013, found guilty in 2014 and subsequently sentenced to 15 months in prison.
Hernandez was arraigned on Friday on two counts of wire fraud and entered a plea of not guilty. She was released on a $65,000 bond and was
ordered to stand trial on March 20.
She faces faces up to 20 years in prison on each count.
