Press Release
ORCHESTRATORS OF MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR MORTGAGE FRAUD SCHEME SENTENCED
April 24, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that defendants Richard Weldon Crowder, II, and Gary Mark Mills were sentenced today by United States District Judge Jose E. Martinez to 108 months’ and 46 months’ imprisonment, respectively. Co-defendant Karen Lynn Sullivan was sentenced yesterday to 50 months’ imprisonment. The defendants were sentenced for their roles in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud conspiracy.
Crowder is a former licensed mortgage broker and the former owner of America’s Best Mortgage Services, Inc., located in Coconut Creek, Florida. Mills is a former title attorney and the owner of Four Star Title Inc., located in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Sullivan is a former loan officer for Wachovia Bank.
The defendants are scheduled to appear again in court on May 29, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. for a hearing to determine the amount of restitution they must pay to the victims in this case.
To effectuate the mortgage scheme, Crowder identified residential properties, including luxury condominiums on South Beach, that were available for purchase. He then recruited buyers for the properties, representing that he could obtain 100% financing for their purchase. After finding a purchaser, Crowder would apply for equity lines of credit on their behalf with Wachovia. To induce Wachovia to issue the equity lines of credit, Crowder and Mills prepared fraudulent HUD-1 settlement forms. The forms falsely stated the buyers already owned the properties and also significantly understated the amount of the first mortgages on the properties. The fraudulent HUD-1 settlement forms were then given to Sullivan, who used the forms to facilitate the issuance of equity lines of credit from Wachovia.
Simultaneously, or shortly after obtaining the equity lines of credit from Wachovia, Crowder applied for the first mortgages on the properties. These applications overstated the buyers’ assets and income, and also included false verification of deposit forms prepared by Sullivan. To further induce the lenders to issue the loans, Mills prepared documents falsely representing that the buyers were using their own money for the down payments and closing costs. In fact, the buyers were using funds from the fraudulently obtained Wachovia equity lines credit or funds provided by Crowder. In total, the defendants caused the fraudulent purchase of seventeen (17) different luxury condominiums at The Continuum on South Beach and at The Point in Adventura using more than $37,000,000 in fraudulently obtained mortgage loans.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kimberly A. Selmore.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
Technical comments about this website can be e-mailed to the Webmaster. PLEASE NOTE: The United States Attorney's Office does not respond to non-technical inquiries made to this website. If you wish to make a request for information, you may contact our office at 305-961-9001, or you may send a written inquiry to the United States Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida, 99 NE 4th Street, Miami, Fl. 33132.