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An Arizona woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay $22 million in restitution after pleading guilty to various charges related to a mortgage fraud scheme and to charges of bankruptcy, wire, mail, and bank fraud in two separate indictments, according to a March 8 release from the ""U.S. attorney's office"":http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/.
[IMAGE]Paige Kinney, also known as Jamie Lee Lawler, led a $40 million mortgage fraud scheme that targeted Countrywide Home loans and other lenders.
According to Kinney's plea agreement, from January 2005 through December 2007, Kinney and others used straw buyers to purchase properties, knowing the straw buyers did not intend to live in the homes or be responsible for loan payments.
Kinney would obtain mortgage financing to purchase homes in the names of the straw buyers by submitting fraudulent mortgage loan applications and altering documents, such as
[COLUMN_BREAK]bank statements, to misrepresent the straw buyers' assets, income, employment status, and other financial information.
Based on these misrepresentations regarding the buyers' ability to qualify for loans, lenders issued loans that exceeded the homes' sales prices. Once the funds were obtained from the lenders, the extra proceeds, known as ""cash-back,"" were directed to bank accounts that Kinney controlled.
In total, Kinney caused lending institutions to issue $38,745,215 in fraudulent loans. Out of those loan proceeds, $8,754,485.17 was directed as ""cash back"" to bank accounts controlled by Kinney and other conspirators.
Kinney used the ""cash-back"" for expenses such as luxury vehicles, jewelry, and homes in Phoenix and San Diego; to make mortgage payments; and to compensate straw buyers.
""Ms. Lawler used her position as a loan officer, to carry out a $40 million mortgage fraud scheme. After she was charged in the mortgage fraud case, she continued to commit egregious financial crimes,"" said Dawn Mertz, special agent in charge of IRS Criminal Investigation.
While pending trial on the first mortgage fraud indictment, Kinney continued fraudulent activities. According to her plea agreement on the second indictment, Kinney declared bankruptcy and then attempted to hide assets and liabilities from the bankruptcy court by falsifying her name and social security number.
Kinney also arranged for friends to fraudulently obtain a loan to purchase a Mercedes and committed insurance fraud by staging a phony burglary of her residence, a scheme in which she collected $130,000 through Allstate.
