Benton Mortgage

Tennessee Firm to Pay $1-Million Fine: The Benton Mortgage Co. of Knoxville agreed to pay the fine as it pleaded guilty to concealing illegal payments in connection with a federal housing program. Benton admitted making payments to former officials of the Department of Housing and Urban Development as it worked on financing three low-income housing projects. The company pleaded guilty to three felony counts of concealing material facts from the government.

Tennessee Firm to Pay $1-Million Fine: The Benton Mortgage Co. of Knoxville agreed to pay the fine as it pleaded guilty to concealing illegal payments in connection with a federal housing program. Benton admitted making payments to former officials of the Department of Housing and Urban Development as it worked on financing three low-income housing projects. The company pleaded guilty to three felony counts of concealing material facts from the government.

Three former government housing officials reaped millions in "unjustified profits" and increased costs in two troubled housing programs through a mortgage company suspended from government work because of questionable business practices, a federal audit says. The three--including Philip D. Winn, now ambassador to Switzerland--are among those who capitalized on their knowledge of the housing programs and the lender's lax enforcement of government regulations.

Three former government housing officials reaped millions in "unjustified profits" and increased costs in two troubled housing programs through a mortgage company suspended from government work because of questionable business practices, a federal audit says. The three--including Philip D. Winn, now ambassador to Switzerland--are among those who capitalized on their knowledge of the housing programs and the lender's lax enforcement of government regulations.

Los Angeles is not likely to figure prominently in two key scandals at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, in part because officials took steps in 1988 to clean up "a mess" in which hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sales of foreclosed homes were lost, according to federal officials.

Cost overruns and numerous delays in a project to renovate a cluster of apartment buildings in the Bryant-Vanalden redevelopment area of Northridge have prompted the project's developer to step down as manager of the buildings. Devinder (Dave) Vadehra said Friday he agreed to turn over management responsibilities to a Tennessee-based apartment-management firm so that he can concentrate more on rehabilitation of the buildings.

Top officials of the Department of Housing and Urban Development repeatedly failed to take effective action against abuses by private lenders in a six-year-old co-insurance program that already has suffered losses exceeding $100 million, HUD Inspector General Paul A. Adams testified Friday.

The Los Angeles City Housing Authority Board of Commissioners appointed a special committee on Friday to tighten contracting regulations and to ensure that the procedures are followed by Executive Director Leila Gonzalez-Correa. The action came in response to a report Friday in The Times that Gonzalez-Correa had violated federal procurement regulations on at least six occasions while awarding Housing Authority contracts to her acquaintances and to political supporters of Mayor Tom Bradley.