NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

JOHN F. WOOD

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

JUNE 27, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KC MAN INDICTED FOR MORTGAGE FRAUD

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Kansas City, Mo., man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for mortgage fraud.

Jason Todd Morgan, 40, of Kansas City, was charged in a seven-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City on Thursday, June 21, 2007. That indictment was unsealed and made public today. A warrant has been issued for Morgan’s arrest.

The federal indictment alleges that, from June 2005 to Nov. 17, 2006, Morgan participated in a conspiracy to defraud and to obtain money from First Magnus Financial Corp. and Sebring Capital Partners, Limited Partnership, other mortgage lenders, and Freedom Title Company.

Co-conspirators allegedly sought to obtain financing to purchase residential properties at falsely and fraudulently inflated prices in order to obtain loan proceeds in excess of the actual sale price. Co-conspirators sought to obtain loans to purchase the properties through fraudulent loan applications and other fraudulent documents.

Morgan’s role in the conspiracy, the indictment alleges, was to identify properties for purchase as well as identifying persons who could act as straw buyers, for which he would be paid $1,000 to $1,500 per property. According to the indictment, these straw buyers were told that they would be paid a sum of money to purchase and obtain loans to purchase the properties, but that they would have no financial obligations in connection with the properties, which would be managed, maintained and rented for them. Straw buyers were allegedly told that the properties would be sold for them within a short period of time and they would be paid an additional sum from the profit realized on the sale of the properties. The straw buyers were not to live in the properties, the indictment says.

The indictment alleges Morgan’s involvement in the purchase of properties on Lakeshore Drive in Lake Lotawana, Mo., and on State Line Road in Kansas City, Mo. In both instances, Morgan allegedly identified the properties, contacted the sellers and identified straw buyers to purchase the properties at inflated prices. The actual sale price on the Lake Lotawana property was $241,400, according to the indictment, but Morgan and co-conspirators obtained loans to purchase the property for $472,119 by using false and fraudulent loan applications. The actual sale price on the Kansas City property was $220,000, according to the indictment, but Morgan and co-conspirators obtained loans to purchase the property for $379,427 by using false and fraudulent loan applications. The sellers of the Kansas City property, however, refused to sign the closing documents, the indictment says, when they saw that the sales price was falsely listed, that there was a false management fee of $152,995, and that the sales contract contained a forged signature; the transaction was never completed.

Morgan is also charged with six counts of wire fraud for separate instances in which facsimile transmissions of fraudulent documents and wire transfers of funds were made in connection with the purchase of the two properties in Lake Lotawana and Kansas City.

Wood cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Parker Marshall. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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