A former California mortgage broker who allegedly defrauded customers of $7 million and convinced a university to rename a basketball arena after his company faces a 122-count indictment by a federal grand jury.
Tony J. Daniloo, 32, managed a Dublin, Calif., branch office for Residential Credit Corp. from 2000 to 2002, and went on to found DreamLife Financial in Modesto. Both companies, prosecutors claim, victimized homeowners seeking cash-out refinance loans. Daniloo allegedly altered escrow documents and diverted cash belonging to his clients into his personal bank accounts.
In addition to making “lulling payments” to homeowners to conceal the scheme, Daniloo spent “massive amounts of stolen money to garner publicity for DreamLife,” according to U.S. Attorney Kevin J. Ryan.
Daniloo pledged $1 million to the California State University Stanislaus athletic department, for example, and the university briefly renamed its basketball stadium “DreamLife Arena.” The company was also a finalist for naming rights to the San Francisco 49ers’ football stadium in 2004, Ryan said.
DreamLife had as many as seven branch offices before it was forced to close its doors in December, 2004, after federal agents executing a search warrant seized evidence now being used to prosecute Daniloo.
Daniloo, who was scheduled to be arraigned today, faces 41 counts of wire fraud, four counts of mail fraud, and 77 counts of money laundering, each carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, and restitution. He also faces local charges in Alameda County.
