Of 6 in scam, one goes free

The woman with multiple sclerosis aided in defrauding owners facing foreclosure.

By KEVIN GRAHAM, Times Staff Writer
Published September 25, 2007

TAMPA - The judge's message was clear: If Amy Hudd Paukner had stood trial with co-workers charged with running a massive mortgage fraud scheme, she would be in federal prison now like the rest of them.

"I think you deserve to go to jail, quite candidly," U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore said to Paukner on Monday.

But Paukner, 36, has chronic multiple sclerosis. So Whittemore sentenced her to time served. Others received sentences ranging from a year and a day to five years.

The Spring Hill mother posted $50,000 bail the day of her March 2006 arrest, court records show. And she has remained out of jail since, except for an arrest for missing a court-ordered appointment that she blamed on car trouble.

"You are lucky you are not sitting here in a jumpsuit," Whittemore told Paukner, who also got leniency because she pleaded guilty. "But for your multiple sclerosis, I assure you, you would be."

In March, a federal jury convicted five Tampa residents that Paukner worked with for scamming homeowners into selling their homes to avoid foreclosure.

Brothers Ramzy and Kamal Moumneh were accused of siphoning more than $2-million in home equity from their victims in an elaborate scheme that billed itself as a way to save struggling homeowners.

According to court documents, the Moumnehs - along with Chuong X. Dam, Demetrios J. Voiklis and Kimberly Brothers - conspired under the name of First Hanover Mortgage Corp. to offer help to homeowners facing foreclosure by having them sell their homes to straw buyers. The homeowners were told they could buy the homes back after making 12 monthly lease payments.

Ramzy Moumneh was sentenced to five years in prison, and Kamal Moumneh got four years. Dam and Voiklis each were sentenced to a year and a day, while Brothers got a year and a half.

Paukner was indicted along with them. But she became ill during the trial and was set to stand trial alone.

Whittemore said he struggled with Paukner's sentence because he didn't want to appear to give her a pass because of her disease.

Paukner was a notary who forged people's names on documents. Whittemore, who presided over the trial of Paukner's co-workers, said someone testified that Paukner bragged about how good she had become at it.

Whittemore described the trial as "a lot of greedy investors and a lot of homeowners who just simply didn't face up to the fact that they would have signed anything and everything to save their homes."

Timothy Fitzgerald, Paukner's attorney, told the judge Paukner only did what her bosses, the Moumneh brothers, taught her.

She started with the mortgage company as a secretary and was drafted to compile mortgage applications when someone in the office quit, Fitzgerald said. She had no formal training and worked as a pressure washer and delivered pizzas before working there.

"Forging someone's name is not something you learn is wrong in college," Whittemore said in response. "That is an inherently immoral act."

Kevin Graham can be reached at 813 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 25, 2007, 00:01:08]