The Columbus Dispatch Monday January 23, 2012 3:49 PM
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/01/23/vanguard-mortgage-plea.html
Two Pickerington men have pleaded guilty in federal court to $15 million in mortgage fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today.
Cameron Green, 35, and Jason Simcox, 38, admitted last week in U.S. District Court in Columbus that they had laundered money in connection with a scheme to buy 26 properties in Arizona.
The two co-owned Vanguard Mortgage in Westerville and used the company to broker financing for the properties in 2006 and 2007, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Denton.
She said the men lied about their income and assets so they could obtain inflated loans for the properties from lenders and collect kickbacks, which totaled $1.5 million.
Lenders lost $6.1 million, Denton said. All the properties were foreclosed upon or sold for less than the value of their loans.
Each defendant has signed a plea agreement with prosecutors and could be sentenced to as many as 10 years in prison and fined $250,000 or twice the value of the property involved, whichever is greater.