Four people have been indicted on charges of running a multi-year scheme that used fabricated financial records to push more than 20 fraudulent home loans worth about $7.3 million.
A grand jury in the Northern District of Texas returned the indictment Sept. 16, while the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the charges Sept. 21. The four defendants are Shawna Randall (also known as Shawna Porter), Cleophus Turner, Julie Shoumbert and Maurice Gardner.
All four are charged with conspiracy to provide false statements to a mortgage lending business, and Randall and Turner each face three additional counts of fraud and false statements.
The loans were originated through Eustis Mortgage Corporation, which does business as Verity Mortgage, for properties in Texas and Oklahoma between June 2020 and November 2022, according to the indictment.
That roughly $7.3 million figure reflects the total value of the loans that were funded, not the government’s actual loss. Prosecutors said the Department of Housing and Urban Development has paid more than $493,000 in partial FHA insurance claims tied to the alleged scheme.
If convicted, the four defendants face potential prison time, fines and the forfeiture of property traceable to the alleged offenses.
The Northern District of Texas is prosecuting the case, and the investigation reflects a broader federal push against fraud at the point of loan origination, rather than just in how loans are later serviced.
How the Scheme Allegedly Worked
The indictment describes a division of labor among the four.
Randall allegedly recruited borrowers who did not qualify for mortgages and prepared or directed the creation of fabricated W-2s, pay stubs, employment verifications and bank statements.
Turner, a loan officer at Verity Mortgage, allegedly submitted the falsified information in loan applications while knowing it had been fabricated or altered.
Shoumbert and Gardner allegedly produced phony bank statements at Randall’s request that were then used to make borrowers appear qualified.
Those documents are the kind that underwriters rely on to decide whether a borrower can repay a loan, according to the indictment. By faking them, the defendants allegedly moved borrowers who could not meet federal lending standards through the approval process.
The VA and FHA Connection
Among the loans were mortgages backed by the VA home-loan program—a core benefit for veterans and service members—and the Federal Housing Administration.
Both programs are designed to help buyers qualify for home loans they might not otherwise obtain, and both rely on accurate borrower information to work.
The VA Office of Inspector General, the HUD Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General investigated the case.
Prosecutors have cast the alleged scheme as targeting those programs rather than individual veterans, with the lender and the federal insurance programs bearing the cost.
Veterans who suspect fraud involving a VA-backed loan can report it to the VA Office of Inspector General. They can report suspected FHA loan fraud to the HUD Inspector General.
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