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COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA

Office of the Attorney General


Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II

Office of the Sheriff


Loudoun County, Virginia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Contact: Vincent DiBenedetto, Public Information Officer, Office of the Sheriff
vincent.dibenedetto@loudoun.gov
703-771-5791
Brian Gottstein, Director of Communication, Office of the Attorney General
bgottstein@oag.state.va.us (best contact method)
804-786-5874

Diane H. Frederick Atari

Loudoun Woman Charged in $50 Million Mortgage Fraud


Scheme Extradited From Turkey
LEESBURG, VA (February 22, 2011) An Ashburn woman who fled the United States after being
indicted in July 2009 for a mortgage fraud scheme has been extradited from Turkey, completing a years-

long effort by the Loudoun County Sheriffs Office and the Virginia Office of the Attorney General to
bring her to justice, the offices announced at a news conference this morning.
Diane H. Frederick Atari, 43, is charged with fraudulently fixing her clients' credit and inflating their
incomes on financial records to qualify them for homes they could not afford. Atari is alleged to have
personally netted in excess of $1 million from the scheme, with the total loss on the fraudulently obtained
mortgages estimated at over $50 million. She was arraigned this morning in Loudoun County Circuit
Court.
Sheriff Stephen O. Simpson called this case one of highest priority. This case involved countless hours
of investigation over several months by our office and the Attorney Generals office, as well as the extra
effort of the prosecutors, he said. "The teamwork has paid off and a woman who preyed on over 100
vulnerable people will now be held to account.
My office continues to target criminals who seek to compromise the integrity of our financial system and
who do it by taking advantage of people who put their trust in them. This investigation illustrates this
offices close working relationship with local law enforcement in its efforts to protect citizens around the
commonwealth from becoming victims of financial fraud, said Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
This case has presented us with an unusual delay due to the defendants flight from the United States,
said Commonwealths Attorney Jim Plowman. My office has been prepared to present this criminal trial
for quite some time, and on behalf of the victims of these crimes, Im pleased well now be given the
opportunity to seek justice for them.
Atari owned and operated ACR Consulting Co. and Atari Management Co., both located in Loudoun
County. She offered rent-to-own services to customers who were seeking home ownership. Typically,
these clients were unable to qualify for mortgages due to bad credit or low income. Atari signed
agreements with the applicants with the understanding that ACR Consulting would attempt to fix their
credit.
Initially, clients signed agreements with no up-front charges, with monies only being exchanged at the
home closings. Eventually, Atari began charging clients an up-front fee to cover expenses.
Atari apparently worked with her clients' creditors to pay off their debts, often for less than face value.
Atari usually paid the debts with her own funds, which would be returned to her upon the home closings.
To enhance credit scores, Atari apparently would advise credit card companies to add her clients as
"authorized users" to her associates credit accounts. Her associates good credit would increase the
clients credit scores.
Atari also falsified her clients' employment and other documents, inflating their financial status to the
point that they could qualify for a mortgage. In some cases, she even deposited her own funds into the
clients' bank accounts to show higher balances.
Once mortgages were approved, Atari would accompany her clients to the closings. Sometimes clients
would balk at the large monthly payments required under the fraudulently secured mortgages. Atari
would then agree to help them make payments until such time as she could arrange a refinance at lower
interest rates to reduce the payments.
In addition to recovering the money she fronted, Atari received a commission upon the sale of the home
and a fee for credit repair. She also allegedly took a percentage of the fees paid at closing for brokering
the services. Most of the homes were unaffordable for her clients and destined for foreclosure.

Following a year-long investigation, Atari was indicted on July 13, 2009, in Loudoun County Circuit
Court on 10 counts of false statements to obtain credit and one count each of money laundering and
racketeering. The investigation was a joint effort between the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office Financial
Crimes Unit and Howard Mulholland, financial investigator with the attorney generals Financial Crimes
Intelligence Center.
Atari fled the country in July of 2009. Local law enforcement contacted INTERPOL to assist in locating
her. She was arrested in Turkey in October 2009 and has been held there awaiting extradition. U.S.
Marshals brought her back to Dulles International Airport Friday night, where she was turned over to
investigators from the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office and the Virginia attorney general's office.
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