A Georgia woman pleaded guilty last Thursday to one count of conspiracy in federal court in connection with her alleged role in a mortgage fraud scheme, media reports said.
Jennifer C. Grant, 47, formerly of Atlanta, pleaded guilty to one count of a federal indictment charging a conspiracy to violate the bank fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, interstate and other statutes by defrauding real estate owners, real estate investors and mortgage lenders, reports said.
Grant was immediately detained without bond after the hearing, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported. Her guilty plea came one day after U.S. Attorney David Nahmias announced the sentencing of the ringleader of what he called “one of the largest cases of mortgage fraud in this district.”
According to court documents, Grant collected about $1 million from real estate investors for the purported purchase of residential and commercial properties in Atlanta, Aliceville, Ala., New Jersey and elsewhere. She did so by falsely representing that she owned or controlled these properties, the court documents said.
Grant also falsely claimed the properties were available for purchase through her “source at the bank” at substantially discounted amounts, well below fair market value, according to the documents.
Grant fraudulently acquired deeds for a number of these properties by falsely promising the true owners that second mortgages or refinancing was being obtained for them, the documents alleged. She would also say that she was purchasing the property from them and any mortgages of the true owner would be assumed or paid, court papers said.
Instead, Grant sold the properties to others, lived in them herself, pledged them as collateral to obtain loans for herself, or arranged for straw borrowers to obtain fraudulent mortgage loans without paying either the true owners and their mortgages or the new mortgage loans, documents said.
Grant could receive a maximum of five years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. A sentencing date has not been set, reports said.
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