United States v. Dean Rossi

Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit·Decided September 22, 2021·No. 20-3182·Unpublished

Opinion

NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

No. 20-3182

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

v.

DEAN ROSSI,

Appellant

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (D.C. No. 2-15-cr-00109-001)

District Judge: Honorable Joel H. Slomsky

Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1 (September 21, 2021)

Before: CHAGARES, HARDIMAN, and MATEY, Circuit Judges.

(Filed: September 22, 2021)

OPINION*

*

This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent.

HARDIMAN, Circuit Judge.

Dean Rossi appeals his judgment of conviction and sentence after a jury found him guilty of defrauding three federally insured banks into loaning him approximately $4.15 million. He raises several issues on appeal, none of which persuades us. So we will affirm.

I

Though we write only for the parties, Rossi raises a sufficiency of the evidence claim and sentencing challenges that require us to explain the facts in some detail. In very general terms, Rossi conspired with title agents to obtain real estate loans by providing false documentation.

A

Rossi owned several low-income residential properties in the Philadelphia area through holding companies, including R&S Real Estate, LLC. According to the indictment, Rossi agreed to create R&S with Anthony Serrano around December 2006. Rossi’s lawyer, Michael Brooks, formed R&S by December 27, 2006.

In January 2007, Brooks drafted an R&S operating agreement that listed Rossi as the company’s only member. Brooks stated in a declaration that he drafted a second operating agreement dated March 30, 2007, adding Serrano (whom Brooks’s declaration referred to as A.S.) as an additional member of R&S at Rossi’s direction. The second agreement listed Rossi and Serrano as equal owners of the company. Serrano testified that Rossi never told him about the first operating agreement.

The Government alleged that Rossi used the first operating agreement, along with other documents misrepresenting his personal finances, to defraud Nova Bank into loaning him $1.65 million. Prosecutors argued Rossi submitted the first agreement to conceal Serrano’s involvement in R&S so Nova would not investigate Serrano’s credit history. Nova personnel testified that had they known Serrano owned half of R&S, they would have required him to co-guarantee the loan, and they would have reviewed his finances. They also testified that Rossi’s financial documents led them to trust Rossi as a guarantor.

Rossi gave Nova the first operating agreement before attorney Brooks prepared the second agreement that included Serrano as a member of the company. The second agreement was dated the day after Nova authorized R&S’s loan disbursement.

Rossi requested the loan on R&S’s behalf to refinance mortgage debt on 28 residential properties (one of which did not have a mortgage at the time of closing). He pledged R&S would give Nova first-position liens on each property as collateral. But R&S did so on only 15 properties. R&S made some payments on the Nova loan before defaulting in 2009.

A key Government witness against Rossi was his title agent, Otis Johnson.

Johnson testified that before the default, Rossi enlisted him to use a large percentage of the Nova loan funds for other ventures unrelated to paying off mortgages as required by the loan terms. The funding allocation was contrary to a HUD-1A loan settlement statement Johnson drafted that described the transaction as Nova understood it.

Nova sued Rossi on his guaranty and obtained a judgment for $1,591,032.69.

Although Nova eventually became insolvent, the bank and its receiver—the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)—sold the 15 properties on which Nova had obtained first liens, mitigating its loss on the R&S loan by $283,840.26. The District Court found that Nova’s net loss was $1,307,192.43.

B

The Government accused Rossi of using a different holding company, St. Charles Place, LLC, to defraud another bank. St. Charles obtained a $1.3 million loan from First Cornerstone Bank to purchase a group of properties. Rossi instructed his broker to give First Cornerstone 2005 and 2006 tax returns the Government alleged were fraudulent, among other documents. Johnson, the title agent who facilitated the Nova transaction, prepared a HUD-1 settlement statement representing that St. Charles would use $1,250,000 in loan funds to buy the properties, and that St. Charles would incur $45,809 in settlement expenses. The HUD-1 also stated that $725,466.92 of the $1,250,000 would be used to pay back taxes on the purchased properties. This left $524,533.08 for the sellers. St. Charles was to receive just $4,191 of the remaining loan funds, and First Cornerstone was to obtain first-position liens on ten purchased properties. Rossi was a guarantor.

Johnson testified that after the bank disbursed the $1.3 million, Rossi directed him to distribute the money contrary to the HUD-1. Johnson wrote two checks to St. Charles for a total of $456,460.73, more than 100 times what the LLC was supposed to receive in loan proceeds. Johnson also wrote two checks to his own company totaling $143,723.10.

After these kickbacks and the $524,533.08 allotted to the sellers, there was less than $200,000 out of $1.3 million available for the $725,466.92 in back taxes due on the properties.

St. Charles made some loan payments before defaulting. First Cornerstone sued Rossi for defaulting on his guaranty, seeking the loan’s outstanding principal balance of $1,218,827.57. The Government alleged the bank had to release a mortgage on one of the ten properties on which it was supposed to have a first-priority lien because it turned out St. Charles did not actually own that property. The bank later lost its liens on three of the other nine properties when the City of Philadelphia foreclosed on them. First Cornerstone foreclosed on five of the remaining six properties and resold them for $555,310.47 after transaction costs. It did not attempt to foreclose on the sixth property which, at the time of Rossi’s sentencing, had an assessed value of $46,800.

By subtracting the $555,310.47 in net proceeds from the sale of the five properties and the $46,800 value of the sixth property from First Cornerstone’s initial loss of $1,218,827.57, the District Court concluded that the net loss was $616,717.10. The FDIC assumed this amount as receiver for the now-defunct First Cornerstone.

C

The Government also accused Rossi of using a third entity, HB Holding Company LLC, to defraud a third bank, Leesport/VIST.1 HB obtained a $1.2 million loan from

1 Both Rossi and the Government call the third bank “Leesport/VIST.” The bank was initially called Leesport before it became VIST.

Leesport/VIST to finance its purchase of 20 properties. In exchange, Leesport/VIST would receive first-position liens against each property along with Rossi’s personal guaranty.

Rossi’s broker testified that Rossi had him give Leesport/VIST the same allegedly false tax returns Rossi had him send Nova and First Cornerstone. Rossi then enlisted title agent Frank Dowd to facilitate the transaction.2 Shortly before closing, Rossi told Dowd that, due to Rossi’s cash flow problems, the owner of the 20 properties agreed to let the mortgages on some of the properties go temporarily unpaid after the settlement until Rossi could obtain the money to pay them. Dowd testified that he knew the bank expected the loan to be used to satisfy all outstanding mortgages on the 20 properties at the time of settlement and that it would not have issued the loan otherwise. He also testified that he knew it was illegal to disregard the bank’s closing instructions, but he agreed to do so in part because he wanted to make a $12,000 commission.

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