WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — A former D.C. Housing Authority employee pleaded guilty Wednesday to a mortgage fraud scheme that tried to cost private mortgage lenders over $15 million, the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) announced.
According to court documents, from August 2020 to May 2024, Robert Cunningham, 55, submitted false statements and fake documents for multifamily property loan applications. The USAO said that he submitted these items for properties that he owned or controlled in D.C.
He first applied for six secondary renovation loans from a private mortgage company based in Virginia. Cunningham knew that he did not have enough equity to qualify for the loans, so he falsified his mortgage statements, understating balances owed to make his equity appear greater. The lender funded all six of his loans, which totaled around $7.4 million.
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Later, Cunningham looked for renovation financing for two more D.C. properties from a private mortgage company based in Oregon. He falsified lease documents from a “Veterans Assistance Payments” program that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) ran in order to make these properties seem to generate reliable income. The USAO said that this program does not exist — instead, he took Housing Assistance Program lease documents from HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher program and altered them. He also submitted fake rent rolls showing that his tenants had Department of Veterans Affairs…