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Vijay Taneja Pleads Guilty in $33 Million Mortgage Fraud Case
Vijay K. Taneja, the 47-year-old president of the now bankrupt Fairfax, Virginia-based Financial Mortgage, Inc., (FMI) plead guilty this week to conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with a massive mortgage fraud scam that grossed over $33 Million. Just a few years ago, Taneja was on top of the entertainment and mortgage lending worlds. In October of 2005, Taneja coordinated a press release in conjunction with his participation at the 92nd Annual Mortgage Bankers Association’s Convention and Expo stating:
Financial Mortgage, Inc., has chosen to outsource closing coordination, title and escrow, post-closing and subservicing vendor coordination and delivery to Guardian Mortgage Services (GMS) in order to better manage fixed costs, improve salability on the secondary market and fuel even faster growth. Financial Mortgage, Inc., a 15-year industry veteran with retail and wholesale operations, currently has seven branch locations and plans to quadruple its volume over the next year.
According to the Washington Business Journal, Taneja invested millions of dollars into Indian movies and concerts and was the head of Elite Entertainment Inc. , a company which promotes celebrities from the Indian film industry here in the U.S. and Canada.
Now, just three years later, Vijay Taneja is headed to jail!
According to court documents, before Taneja/FMI sold its mortgages to financial institutions as long-term investors, FMI utilized warehouse lenders to temporarily fund the mortgages before they were sold. Beginning in 2001, FMI began defrauding a series of warehouse lenders and eventually two other financial institutions serving as long-term investors, causing an accumulated loss of at least $33 million to the following financial institutions:
- First Tennessee Bank
- Franklin Bank
- Wells Fargo Bank
- EMC Mortgage Corporation
Vijay Taneja accomplished his scheme by:
- Creating fictitious loans with bogus loan closings.
- Selling the same legitimate loan to multiple investors.
- Pocketing the proceeds generated from refinancing loans, when the bulk of those proceeds were intended to payoff prior mortgages on the same properties.
Court documents also show that for at least part of the time Taneja operated the scheme, he conspired with the owner of TitlePro, a Fairfax title company that went out of business in May of 2008.
Sentencing for Vijay Taneja is set for January 30, 2009. The maximum potential penalty for conspiracy to commit money laundering is 20-years incarceration and a fine of $500,000.
The investigation was conducted by Special Agents of the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service. The prosecution of the case is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Stephen Learned.
Filed under: Guilty Plea, Mortgage Fraud, Vijay Taneja, Virginia, Warehouse Lenders
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John Brewington of Paladin Investigations has been hired to track down people like this. The depth of fraud runs very deep to include realtors, appraisers, brokers etc. There has to be a silver lining somewhere.
Comment by John Brewington — November 20, 2008 @ 7:31 pm
This should look into Tikiri Mayu Bogollagama and Steve Hetrick, who operated a similar operation in Georgetown from the Ritz Carlton Hotel with the help of a Washington Mutual executive from Mclean. They robbed over 20 people, using phony shares in fake companies to fund the acquisition of multi-million dollar properties throughout the city. Then they would use the WaMu connection to refinance out all the cash and funnel the money out of the country back to Russia or Sri Lanka. They were able to defraud a 70 year old woman out of her life’s savings, another guy took out a home equity loan to “invest’ with them and ended up losing his house. Yet, the FBI and the local authorities have done nothing to these con-men, stll living it up, drinking martinis at Cafe Milano or at the Four Seasons in Washington DC…
Comment by Steve Hetrick — November 21, 2008 @ 1:47 pm
what did his home auction of for?
Comment by Anonymous — November 24, 2008 @ 8:41 pm
how is he getting away with this…his driver why he have one? why was he banned from ritz
Comment by is mayu a conman? — November 26, 2008 @ 12:06 am
I did the books for these guys for over four years. Everything was inflated and they had no genuine assets. I got paid part from the monies they conned so many naive individuals from and had no problem creating falsified documents to help them. We would find exotic multi-million dollar projects abroad, write and get a prospectus and use this information as the foundation for our scams. We would tell our “local investors”, moms and pops business owners, guys who got lucky in real estate (hetrick), young professionals without business training, etc, that these were our projects. We forged documents, appraisals, and wrote letters of interest from one of our other fraudulent company to another. It worked so well until Mayu got greedy and stupid. He would get drunk and blast off racist tirades in front of potential victims and costs us hundreds of thousands of dollars.
He would then leave the country for weeks to hide out and then come back with these new idiotic projects (he wanted to scam people by claiming that the he had a government contract to replace all of the windows in government buildings using a “revolutionary” product). It got to the point why his creditors were knocking on my door asking for payment. So much for my part, I want out…
Comment by Lloyd Mallory — November 26, 2008 @ 5:08 pm
good for us you caught this guy keep him behind bar for life taking people hard earn money and enjoying with celeberity
Comment by sunil patel — December 15, 2008 @ 2:38 pm
Down with the Tyrant Taneja. This Mayu fellow is of interest as well. He has been banned from The Ritz Carlton for life (he used it as a scouting field to fish out wealthy but naive individuals). He approached my company offering equity shares in his “hundred million dollar” company, Ceylon Hotel Development Group (bogus by the way) in exchange for us giving a second mortgage on a property he didn’t even own. His gimmick is that he shows up in a chaffeured silver Mercedes g500 and then drops a few hundred dollars on drinks at the lounge in the Four Seasons in Georgetown (no more Ritz). He then outright lies and says his “pedigree” includes a law degree from Georgetown University and that he sits on the board of exotic, high profile but foreign companies. He then befriends his victim, wines and dines them for a few months, and then presents a too good to be true deal of a lifetime for a very small investment. You put in $10k, you get back $5k within a month. Then after you are repaid, he again has another too good to be true deal, but for a little more, he asks for $25k, $50k, or even $100k (he has a good read on what you can “afford”), and then he would either run the gimmick again if he thinks he can tap more out of you or not. When time for repayment, he has the wildest, craziest excuses. He then stops seeing you, taking your calls, and begins sending you drunken texts insulting you. When you try to confront him, he cowers and hides for weeks, leaving the country. He doesn’t seem to realize that this is a very small business community and everyone cathces on quickly. I have heard similar stories from no less than six individuals who were taken by this con man. Also, he’s a squatter in the most expensive condo building in the City, the Washington Harbor. This guy is too much…
Comment by Raj Singh — December 16, 2008 @ 12:21 pm
Whoever said you did books for him, you should of reported it. That is considered to be willful blindness and you could get in trouble for that under the law!
Comment by anonymous — January 14, 2009 @ 4:19 am
I am repenting now, especially after this whole Madoff thing. I realize that I was only getting pennies for what Mayu Bogollagama was making, but taking the majority of accountability for it. Mayu and his father, disbarred Mclean Attorney, Mahinda Bogollagama, are con-man expects. His uncle Rohitha Bogollagama in Sri Lanka has been doing this to the government there for years. Now my personal and professional reputation is ruined and all of Mayu’s creditors, including Steve Hetrick, Emeline Wilson, Santi Singh, James Doyle, and a host of others are after me. Please help, Mayu is not returning my calls, I’ve tried him many times on his cell phone 2.0.2.2.5.5.8.5.6.4, but he’s avoiding me. He is probably drinking at Cafe Milano trying to con new victims…
Comment by Lloyd Mallory — January 16, 2009 @ 4:51 pm
alongwith vijay put his whole team in jail that include arun luthra and bhandari. all bunch of crooks give 5 cents to temple out 100 dollar the fraud inocent people
Comment by raj sood — February 2, 2009 @ 8:45 pm
Why would Mallory wantto talk to Mayu?
Call FBI instead
Mayu evicted from Washington Harbour, Driver and G50 Hetrik’s [so Hetrick is still in it]
Shiv won $200K judgement against Mayu
Mayu”s father disbarred in VA for ripping off clients
Comment by homsec@gmail.com — February 15, 2009 @ 10:35 am
Did you hear? Tikiri Mayu Bogollagama is now a published author. What c rap is this? This con man paid to publish his own “book of love poems” and will donate all proceeds to charity. Riiight. The same pathethic loser who cheated so many people out of their hard earned money is now going to donate money to charity. Well, I bet it’s going to the “Help Mayu stay out jail fund”. Also, he’s no longer living in Hetrick’s million dollar condo on the Georgetown Waterfront, nope, at home, leaving in his parent’s basement.
Comment by DC Native — February 24, 2009 @ 11:39 am
Mr. Raj Sood If you have No Clue You should not talk about other people May Be you should be in Jail for putting Fradulent information on the Internet. I am not part of any of Vijay Taneja Team or am A TRUSTEE of any temple. What I do, I do in Good faith from my funds and do not take anything from tempel. People like you put in mis leading information and just want to be known. May God empower you with proper senses.
Arun Luthra
Comment by Arun Luthra — March 8, 2009 @ 3:57 am
His poor family, what are they doing now?
Comment by Agent — March 16, 2009 @ 12:06 pm
Does this guy own an oceanfront house on the Outer Banks of NC?
Comment by obx guy — March 17, 2009 @ 11:26 am
Vonoda Basnayake, newly appointed Patton Boggs lawyer, and double life night club loan shark lender secured a 200k judgment on T. Mayu Bogollagama for a 90k loan in 2005 that was repaid. Outside of contibuting to the most significant betrayal of the Sri Lankan government last week when unsubstantiated accusations on the Sri Lankan government was ratified at the UN and elsewhere, Vinoda and Patton Boggs clearly continue to fail the 65k per month legal duties to Colombo; perhaps, it is forgotten that in 1947 Ceylon was the second richest treasury of Asia with over 2500 years of recorded history of civil life as an independent nation: thus the reason for a preferred relationship with the Imperial Court of Beijing.
The night life business of Vinoda Basnayake, Blazin-Beats LLC, which makes money on promoting Indian artists and late night events and everything else that go with the culture such as catering to drug dealers as on of its events in 2005 at Cloud Lounge was broken up by the FBI and repeat Blazin-Beats clients were arrested for narcotics that night, Vinoda Basnayake has clearly defected to the Indian community for his cash profit/night life business which contradicts all principles at Patton Boggs, at least from the days of its origin.
And why is it that the only three supporters of T. Mayu Bogollagama’s construction projects remain committed to his execution, though the loan shark Basnayake and his college roommate and sidekick are upset.
Comment by N/A — October 5, 2009 @ 12:18 am
It’s been about three years now, but the disgraced Conman, Tikiri Mayu Bogollagama, or as he’s trying to reinvent himself, T. Mayu Bogollagama, is finally coming out of the closet. Though a long suspected homosexual, Mayu has been reluctant to openly express his true nature for fear of reprisal from his overbearing father, Mahinda, the disbarred Lawyer from Mclean. Along with his recent revelation, Mayu has also been out stumping a new theory about his failed ponzi schemes. His so called construction partners are non-existent, and the pressure by local authorities has finally driven the idiot, mad. Stupidity runs deep in his family however and the local Sri Lankan community is appalled that Mayu and his shady family, have decided to remain in the country even after years of criminal and immoral behaviour. When reached for comment, Mayu went sprinting away, in fear that one fo the many people he owes money too might be looking for him.
Comment by Mayu-the Retarded Gay Conman — October 5, 2009 @ 2:22 pm
So, the recently graduated (one year ago) lawyer for Patton Boggs (DC), Vinoda Basnayake has secured a default judgment on T. Mayu Bogollagama for 200k for a loan of 90k in 2005 thas was repaid. He loans through his ten year old night club/life business Blazin-Beats LLC, which incidentally was raided by the FBI in 2005 and had one of its repeat clients arrested for narcotics at Cloud Lounge on Dupont Circle at an event Blazin-Beats promoted and hosted. Witnesses say Vonoda’s partner Canal Shah ran out the back door. A bigger injustice to the Buddhist community of Asia is how Vinoda has not disclosed to the President of Sri Lanka that Patton Boggs’s 65k per month representation of the Sri Lankan government cannot succeed due to conflicts such as Patton Boggs also represent the Indian government in DC and all funds raised for Hillary Clinton political events were typically channelled through Patton Boggs–begging for the question….who is on whose take?
Outside of the fact of death threats orchestrated by Vinoda on his borrower through his ex college roommate Shiv Newaldass and his family (which has been recorded with DC Police with proper complaint numbers) the night club gangster lawyer, his muscle cannot overcome the Howard Hughes based fan club of T. Mayu Bogollagama on acts of injustice.
Comment by N/A — October 9, 2009 @ 1:50 am
Ok, so just to set the scene, close you eyes, picture a fatter, darker, uglier version of Balki from Perfect strangers, but my accent is worst. I sound like a gay foreigner, Brunoish, but with a more effeminate, thicker accent. Also, I have a greased back mullet, beedy eyes, and my designer clothes were purchased from a 1980 thrift store. Now I begin…
I am a crusader against all. I work tirelessly and everything I have done was done with the intention of building a huge Howard Hughes fan base. Yes, that is it. That is why I have screwed over dozens of people and stolen their life savings. I did so because I want to grow my Howard Huges fan base to dwarf any other obsure eccentric figure from the 1930s world of aviation’s fan base. So take that you Amelia Earhart blowhards or Lindbergh Lovers.
I am the Mighty Mayu and my fanbase increases exponentially when I come on worthless blogs to defend accusations of greed, corruption, and stupidity. I cannot be touched. I laugh, no, no, chuckle in the face of all who question my fanbase. My multi-billion play dollars construction projects will prove to the world that I am a visionary. Governments on Farmville tremble before me. Mini-Dictators fear me and I bed the finest transvestites, the slums of the District has even seen.
Now since I can’t even pay off a $200k judgment and was forced to file for bankruptcy because of it, I know that those of you in my fanbase (mom, imaginary friends 1 through a trillion), are wondering why. Well, and this came as a huge surprise to me as well, the only explanation I can give is that real people do not seem to accept monopoly money. I’ve even offered to pay them triple, but these idiots, don’t they realize that the Parker Brothers line of credit extents to a whole host of other projects. Risk, the game of life, battleship, mahjong, I mean, mahjong, come on.
Well, I shall continue building my empire (though lego sets aren’t what they use to be) and soon enough, real people will tremble at the thought of me. Muahahahahaha, hehe, Muahhahaa.
Comment by Tikiri Mayu Bogollagama — October 9, 2009 @ 3:00 pm
oh, how cool is all this?
Comment by elf — January 2, 2010 @ 11:58 pm