Two people convicted for participating in an alleged mortgage fraud ring involving 30 properties in Florida’s Manatee and Sarasota counties have been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution with a third defendant who was sentenced to probation.
Todd A. Kolbe, who was convicted of buying homes and condos that were flipped to straw buyers at two to three times their worth, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison, along with another defendant, Kirk McVey. Kolbe’s sister-in-law, Amy S. Kolbe, was sentenced to four years’ probation, according to the Bradenton Herald.
The paper said Todd Kolbe used fake appraisals to help the straw buyers obtain inflated mortgages from Home Star Mortgage Services, where he was a regional vice president. The buyers defaulted and the properties went into foreclosure. Home Star Mortgage, which is now Opteum Financial Services, fired Kolbe and filed a civil lawsuit.
