A Georgia real estate lawyer was arrested Monday in connection with an alleged $7 million mortgage fraud scheme, media accounts said.
Athens, Ga., attorney C. Michael Rose denied any wrongdoing after being booked into Clarke County Jail late Monday night on a racketeering charge, reports said.
“(Athens-Clarke and state fraud investigators) have a job to do. I’m sure the truth will all come out,” Rose said, according to media reports.
Rose, 45, is the former law partner of Athens-Clarke Solicitor General Mo Wiltshire, according to reports. Wiltshire said Tuesday he doubted that Rose had committed any crimes, reports said.
“I’m shocked and surprised. I can’t imagine that Mike Rose would intentionally do anything criminal. I wish the best for him and his family,” Wiltshire told Athens Online.
Police investigators accuse Rose and about two dozen other people of using phony appraisals and loan applications to systematically and fraudulently pump up property values in Milford Hills, a local subdivision, reports said.
Rose was the 10th person arrested in connection with the fraud, according to reports.
More than a dozen others, mostly people who live in or near Atlanta, have been named in the investigation, but have not yet turned themselves in or been taken into custody, Athens Online said.
The alleged participants, including Rose, are said to have “conspired and endeavored to engage in racketeering” under the state’s Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, according to the arrest warrant for Rose, reports said.
