Executive Charged With Skimming $1.1 Million From Nursing Homes

CHICAGO — The owner of several Illinois nursing homes was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday for allegedly skimming money from federally insured facilities that had defaulted on mortgage loans to pay expenses of a non-federally insured facility. Mark Yampol, 57, of St. Louis, Missouri, is charged with one count of equity skimming, according to an indictment returned in the U.S. District Court in Chicago.

Yampol directed, managed and controlled a portfolio of Illinois nursing homes including those in Northbrook, Alton, East Peoria, Edwardsville, Elgin, Inverness, Joliet, Moline, Peoria, Rockford, St. Charles, Wood River and Galesburg, according to the indictment. The group of nursing homes is collectively known as the "Rosewood" facilities. He also ran a nursing home in St. Louis.

Rosewood Care Center, now the Lake Cook Rehab and Healthcare center, was located at 4101 Lake Cook Road in Northbrook. Yampol has previously lived in Skokie, among other places.

The charge is punishable by up to five years in federal prison. A date for arraignment has not yet been set.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development insured the mortgage loans made by private lending institutions to all but one of Yampol's nursing homes, according to the document. By March 1, 2015, the HUD-insured facilities had not made timely mortgage payments and were in default of their loans.

From May 2015 to August 2015, Yampol is accused of diverting approximately $1.1 million in funds derived from the HUD-insured facilities, which remained in default on their loans, to pay the mortgage and operating expenses of the non-HUD-insured facility, the indictment states.

The indictment was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Rae Oliver Davis, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Devlin Su and Kathryn Malizia.

"We would like to acknowledge our partners at the U. S. Attorney's Office, who have worked tirelessly to bring this case forward," Inspector General Davis said. "The alleged diversion of funds is not only significant in its own right but played a significant role in one of the largest insured claims involving HUD’s Section 232 mortgage insurance program for elderly and disabled residents. This office remains steadfastly committed to ensuring the integrity of HUD programs and particularly those designed to assist vulnerable populations."

A 2019 New York Times article called the failure of the Rosewood Care Centers the biggest default in the history of the a little-known program that underpins 15 percent of the nation's nursing homes. In the end, the business defaulted the prior year on $146 million in government-backed mortgages.