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Federal Judge Sentences Ex-Mortgage Banker to 12.5 Years for $30 Million Scheme, Fined $22.5 Million in Forfeiture and Restitution
On March 24, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York announced that District Judge Arthur Spatt levied a 12 ½ year prison sentence against the former head of a mortgage lending bank charged in connection with a conspiracy to commit bank fraud in a $30 million scheme to deceive lenders by lying about property values. The former CEO of a New York state licensed mortgage bank allegedly artificially inflated home prices through a series of same-day transactions, submitted loan applications and appraisals to “warehouse lenders” (financial institutions which fund loans for companies lacking the assets to fund the loans themselves) with values nearly double the true sales prices of the homes, and “inflated [his] own personal assets, used straw purchasers and sham trust entities, and concealed significant liabilities to get loan approval, typically obtaining proceeds for 80 to 100-percent more than the actual value of the homes.” The defendant, found guilty by a jury in January 2016, was also ordered to pay $22.5 million in forfeiture and restitution as part of his sentence.