Rancho Mirage businessman accused of defrauding Detroit bank!

A Rancho Mirage businessman has been accused of defrauding a Detroit bank out of about $5.3 million using an intricate scheme that included one fake person and concealed the ownership of two companies.

Steven Pitchersky, 64, is accused of duping Ally Financial into loaning money to his business, Nationwide Mortgage Concepts, or NMC, by pretending it had a large line of credit with another company named MPL, which was led by a man named “Rick Jay.”

In reality, MPL was also owned by Pitchersky, who pretended to be “Rick Jay” when contacted on his cell phone, according to documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday.

Pitchersky maintained this ruse for about three years, starting in 2008, court documents claim. During that time, Ally Bank extended a $10 million line of credit to NMC.

Pitchersky has been charged with a single count of wire fraud and faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years if convicted. He could not be reached despite multiple calls to his home number. It is unclear if he has hired an attorney.

Pitchersky also made it appear he was using these loans to pay off the mortgages of NMC customers, but actually used the money to originate more mortgages, earning more fees for himself and the company, the court documents claim.

At least one of those customers, an unidentified Michigan homeowner, was supposed to have his mortgage paid off with about $233,000 of loaned funds, the court documents state. Instead, Pitchersky deposited that money into an NMC bank account, then provided a “purported copy” of a check to make it appear the loan had been paid off. The company also made a single monthly payment on the loan, about $1,700, so the homeowner would think his mortgage had been paid off, court documents state.

Normally these transactions would have gone through a third-party company, generally known as a title company. However, Pitchersky is also accused of creating his own title company, Hanover, then concealing his ownership from the bank.

“Unbeknownst to Ally, defendant Steven Pitchersky covertly instructed Hanover to forward to NMC all money it received from Ally to pay off first mortgage banks during the refinancing process,” court documents state. “This subterfuge allowed defendant Pitchersky complete control over money NMC acquired from Ally’s (credit) line. Defendant Pitchersky used Ally’s money for purposes other than for what it (was) loaned for.”

According to the new release, the case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David L. Axelrod.

Pitchersky’s mortgage company, NMC, was a participant in a federal program that allowed it to originate mortgages for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Federal Housing Administration.

Ally Financial was a recipient of $16 billion of federal funding from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.