A former Atlanta closing attorney was found guilty by a federal jury on multiple charges from a $20 million mortgage fraud scheme, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported Tuesday.
Chalana C. McFarland was found guilty on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, identity theft and using false Social Security numbers, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, David E. Nahmias. McFarland now lives in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. revoked McFarland’s bond and ordered her immediately put in jail pending her sentencing hearing on May 3, the Chronicle reported.
McFarland was also convicted of obstruction of justice for failure to produce mortgage closing files to a federal grand jury, submission of false affidavits to cover up the mortgage fraud scheme and perjury for testifying falsely in a civil suit filed by a lender, according to the Chronicle.
Real estate fraud is rampant in Georgia, prompting the recent introduction of a bill in the state’s legislature aimed at curbing the problem.
Just last week, Swain Alvin Lewis, a Dublin, Ga., attorney, was reported to have entered a guilty plea to a charge of misprision (concealment) of a felony in connection with a scheme to defraud a mortgage lender, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Savannah.
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