A Diamond Bar man the FBI arrested Wednesday morning appeared in court the same day to face mail fraud and bankruptcy fraud charges
Jude Raymond Lopez was arrested on four counts of mail fraud, two counts of bankruptcy fraud, and two other counts of fraud related to illegally filing court petitions, according to court records.
Lopez is the father of Jennifer Lopez DeJongh, the former girlfriend of Congressman Gary Miller's son who was accused of abducting the lawmaker’s grandchildren. Lopez DeJongh pleaded no contest in November of child custody deprivation for taking her three sons to Mexico in 2007, where they remained for three years.
A second defendant indicted Wednesday in the fraud case was identified as Marcela Gonzalez. She was arrested after surrendering to agents at the Roybal building, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.
Both defendants were in court Wednesday and granted bail, Eimiller said. A third defendant, Ernesto Diaz, a former realtor, also is mentioned in the indictment.
Lopez and codefendant Diaz allegedly created a phony foreclosure-relief program called Crown Point for desperate homeowners about to lose their properties, collecting around $5 million from 400 clients between February 2010 and June 2012.
Under the program, the homeowners would give Crown Point $15,000 and were promised relief from foreclosure and elimination of mortgage debt in six to eight months, according to court documents.
The alleged scheme involved giving seminars to potential clients in both English and Spanish, as well as to realtors recruited to as salespeople to push the Crown Point program.
Lopez, who is not an attorney, is accused of filing bankruptcy petitions and legal motions on behalf of homeowners without their knowledge or consent. The documents, which contained forged signatures, delayed foreclosures and evictions and led clients to believe that the program was working.
Clients allegedly were told that once their mortgage debt was eliminated, they would be able to get thousand of dollars from their lenders, according to the indictment.
