Scheme involved inflated home prices, unqualified borrowers who pocketed the money
A metro Atlanta real estate agent was sentenced Friday to 14 years in federal prison in a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme.
U.S. District Judge Beverly Martin also ordered Joseph Sterling Jetton, 61, of Woodstock to pay $11.2 million in restitution.
Jetton was convicted in November of conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors say he orchestrated a scheme in which inflated loans were provided to unqualified straw borrowers, who were paid through shell companies as much as $600,000 per property.
Jetton personally derived more than $1 million in commissions from the scheme, the prosecutors said.
Eleven others have already been sentenced in related cases, with prison terms ranging from 8 months to more than 10 years.
According to U.S. Attorney David Nahmias and information presented in court, from late 2004 through early 2006 Jetton wrote sales contracts that failed to disclose that the sales prices of the residences had been inflated and that hundreds of thousands of dollars from the loan proceeds were going to the buyers and others.
“Using his specialized knowledge of real estate and residential mortgage financing, he orchestrated a mortgage fraud scheme that has caused millions of dollars in losses to lenders and untold damage to neighborhoods,” Nahmias said.
“The long prison sentence handed down today accounts for his leadership role in the scheme and the misuse of his position as a real estate agent to commit the fraud,” he said.
Labels: city of woodstock, Georgia, Mortgage Fraud
# posted by
Brian Vanderhoff @ 9:27 AM
