A Missouri man was sentenced to three years in federal prison and nearly $80,000 in restitution for a nearly $18 million mortgage fraud scheme Friday, officials said.
Carl Long, 56, of Oak Grove, Mo., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ortrie D. Smith Friday to three years in federal prison with parole and was also ordered to pay $79,500 in restitution, Todd P. Graves, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, said Friday.
On April 21, Long had pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney.
Long’s offenses were part of a wider mortgage fraud scheme among three co-defendants that involved a total of 120 loans valued at nearly $18 million, according to Graves.
Carl Long was engaged in the mortgage lending business with his son and co-defendant Anthony Edward Long, 35, of Blue Springs, Mo., through Community HomeBanc and First Equity Banc, two Independence, Mo., companies that are no longer in business, according to Graves.
Co-defendant Mitchell David Medlin, 43, of Lee’s Summit, Mo., was engaged in residential and light commercial construction, doing business as M&R Construction LLC, in Lee’s Summit, Graves’ offices said.
Anthony Long and Medlin also pleaded guilty and have been sentenced, according to Graves’ office.
The three co-defendants induced individuals to obtain loans in order to purchase duplexes, primarily in Lee’s Summit and Independence at Westwind, Westvale and Viking Place, Graves said. The three caused lending institutions to approve those loans, all based on false and fraudulent information, according to Graves.
Long admitted that he submitted or caused to be submitted 26 loan applications for properties at Westwind and Westvale, totaling more than $3.6 million, Graves said.
From December through August 2003, the scheme used investment properties as a means to generate excess loan funds by obtaining inflated appraisals, according to Graves.
Those inflated appraisals, Graves said, were based on false rental fees, phony lease agreements, fabricated comparable listings and sales, and false statements in loan applications.
Graves’ office said that Anthony Long, a co-conspirator in the scheme, was sentenced on Oct. 5, 2005, to three years and three months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Anthony Long to pay $1.38 million in restitution, Graves said.
Medlin was also sentenced on Oct. 5, 2005, to five years of probation, including six months in a halfway house and six months of home detention, and the court also ordered Medlin to pay $1.38 million in restitution, Graves said.
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