Judge sentences Issaquah couple in mortgage fraud case
December 22, 2009
NEW — 2:58 p.m. Dec. 22, 2009
Issaquah real estate agent David Sobol and his wife, Alla Sobol, were sentenced to two years in prison for involvement in the largest mortgage-fraud case in state history, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced last week.
Agents arrested the Sobols and five others in late March after a wide-ranging investigation into a $47 million mortgage fraud scheme.
The leader in the mortgage scheme, Bellevue resident Vladislav Baydovskiy, was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in Seattle to five years in prison and three years of supervised release for conspiring to commit bank fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and filing a false tax return.
“You went from one scheme to the next,” U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman said during the sentencing hearing. “When you saw regulators closing in you opened the next.”
Issaquah salon owner faces jail for injecting phony Botox
November 3, 2009
Issaquah resident Xin “Faith” He is guilty of injecting customers with counterfeit cosmetic products at her Bellevue salon, a federal judge ruled Oct. 30. Read more
Thai Ginger owner faces jail time in immigration case
October 27, 2009
Issaquah restaurateur Varee Bradford has pleaded guilty to federal immigration charges. Read more
Issaquah couple plead guilty to mortgage fraud
October 13, 2009
The last of seven people charged in a $47 million mortgage fraud scheme pleaded guilty Oct. 2. Federal authorities said the scheme included Issaquah real estate agent David Sobol, 40, and his wife, Alla Sobol, 28. Read more
Issaquah real estate agent, wife face prison in mortgage fraud case
October 8, 2009
NEW — 11:15 p.m. Oct. 8, 2009
The last of seven people charged in a $47 million mortgage fraud scheme pleaded guilty Oct. 2. Federal authorities said the scheme included Issaquah real estate agent David Sobol, 40, and his wife, Alla Sobol, 28.
Agents arrested the Sobols and five others in late March after a wide-ranging investigation into the largest mortgage-fraud case in state history.
Federal Way resident Viktor Kobzar, 32, was the last defendant to plead guilty in the case. Kobzar pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and filing a false tax return. Kobzar faces up to eight years in prison and up to $350,000 in fines when sentenced by U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman. Kobzar will be sentenced Jan. 8.
Issaquah restaurateur faces federal charges
June 30, 2009
Immigration agents arrested Issaquah restaurateur Varee Bradford last week on federal charges of paying her employees to enter “sham marriages” with Thai citizens to help them to stay in the United States. Read more
Issaquah resident accused of arranging ‘sham marriages’ for Thai Ginger employees
June 23, 2009
NEW — 3:36 p.m. June 23, 2009
Immigration agents arrested Issaquah restaurateur Varee Bradford today on federal charges of paying her employees to enter “sham marriages” with Thai citizens to help them to stay in the United States. Bradford, 43, operates the chain of Thai Ginger restaurants.
Authorities unsealed a federal grand-jury indictment in U.S. District Court in Seattle today against Bradford and former Thai Ginger employee Porramin Tangchaiwanna, 32, known by the nickname Golf.
The indictment accuses Bradford of offering her employees up to $25,000 to enter sham marriages with her Thai relatives for immigration purposes.
Couple arrested in $47 million mortgage-fraud case
March 30, 2009
Federal authorities arrested an Issaquah real estate agent and his wife last week in a bank, wire and mail fraud scheme that investigators said defrauded banks and mortgage lenders of more than $47 million.
Issaquah man charged in $47 million fraud case
March 26, 2009
NEW — 6:30 p.m. March 26, 2009
An Issaquah man and six other people were arrested today in a bank, wire and mail fraud scheme that authorities said defrauded banks and mortgage lenders of more than $47 million.
Issaquah real estate agent David Sobol, 40, was charged in a 40-count federal indictment with several counts of bank, mail and wire fraud. Authorities said Sobol and others falsified tax records and employed “straw buyers” — unqualified buyers with falsified loan applications — to purchase homes in Seattle and on the Eastside.
