One sentenced, one pleads guilty in mortgage fraud cases

<p>A Florida man found guilty earlier this year in a scheme that authorities said involved more than $112 million in fraudulent mortgage loans was sentenced on Friday to serve 28 years in federal prison.</p><p>Phillip E. Hill, 51, of Sumatra, Fla., was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release and pay restitution of nearly $41.8 million. Hill was indicted in June 2005 on charges of conspiracy, loan fraud, mail and wire fraud and money laundering totaling 166 counts.</p><p>According to federal prosecutors, Hill made more than $14 million through the scheme to obtain the mortgages in the sale of more than 50 homes and over 250 condominiums in eight Atlanta-area complexes from 2000 into 2003.</p><p>Each property was sold at an inflated price to a "straw purchaser" who applied for a mortgage loan based upon the inflated price in what is known as a mortgage "flip," the U.S. Attorney's office in Atlanta said in a statement. Some of the properties were "flipped" more than once, with the assistance of fraudulent appraisers and loan officers who also were charged.</p><p>Nearly two dozen people pleaded guilty in the case prior to Hill's eight-week trial. During the same trial, Marcus C. Alcindor, 42, of St. Lucia; Barbara Brown, 34, of Marietta; Fred Farmer, 59, Roswell; Christine Laudermill, 40; Robert Powers, 45, Cumming; David Thomas, 46, of Hammond, La.; Leslie Rector, 35, of Atlanta; David Van Mersbergen, 46, of Atlanta; and Dean Thomas, 42, Atlanta were also convicted on similar charges.</p><p>Also on Friday, in an unrelated case, a Roswell man pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bank, mail and wire fraud, bank loan application fraud, money laundering and wire fraud.</p><p>Federal prosecutors said real estate attorney James F. Stovall III, 56, participated in a mortgage fraud scheme involving property "flips" by one of his clients between April 2000 and June 2001.</p><p>Prosecutors said Stovall's client flipped about 50 properties in the Atlanta area, getting and selling them on the same day to straw borrowers. The client paid recruiters for locating the borrowers, loan officers for preparing and submitting the false applications and qualifying documents, and appraisers for preparing fraudulent appraisals with inflated values that were submitted to lenders.</p><p>Stovall closed most of the same-day flips, and the scheme generated loans totaling over $20 million, prosecutors said.</p><p>Stovall pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank, mail and wire fraud, bank loan application fraud and money laundering, and one count of wire fraud, prosecutors said. He could receive a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count.</p><p>No date has been set for his sentencing.</p>

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