Cranberry developer under federal investigation
CRANBERRY TWP — The developer associated with the Rochester Village and Eden Square housing developments in Cranberry is under federal investigation in New York, federal court documents show.
According to documents filed May 10 in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, a search warrant was approved giving investigators access to four email accounts associated with Morgan Communities and Morgan Management, a company owned by Robert Morgan.
The search was undertaken after an investigation revealed Morgan's son, Todd, and nephew, Kevin, along with mortgage brokers Frank Giacobbe and Patrick Ogiony, allegedly provided false information to financial institutions and overstated the properties' incomes.
According to the federal affidavit, investigations at Rochester Village showed, “a variety of fraudulent conduct in connection with attempts to secure loans on the property.”
Investigators also allege the four men conspired to stage unoccupied units during inspections by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., to give the impression the units were occupied. They did this by, “turning on radios in unoccupied apartments and placing mats and shoes outside the doors of unoccupied apartments,” documents state.
Other fraudulent activity was found, “across the Morgan Management/Morgan Communities real estate portfolio.”
Morgan's offices in Perinton, N.Y. were raided Monday, with FBI officials offering no comment. No charges have been filed in the case, and Morgan said in a statement this week that the business is fully cooperating with the investigation.
The investigation was first reported by the Democrat & Chronicle newspaper in Rochester, N.Y., which obtained court records related to the search and the affidavit after they were apparently accidentally posted online.
A copy of the federal affidavit was provided to the Butler Eagle by the Democrat & Chronicle after the documents disappeared from the public website.
Read the full story in the Butler Eagle.
