After fleeing to Spain, man stuck behind bars until trial date
Earl Gross spent more than six months as a fugitive in Spain after his Las Vegas indictment last year in an $8.4 million bank fraud scheme.
On Thursday, the 74-year-old former mortgage company president paid a hefty price for fleeing the country. He lost his freedom while he awaits his May 21 trial.
After a brief hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bill Hoffman ruled that Gross violated the terms of his pre-trial release and must remain behind bars as the trial approaches.
Charles La Bella, a deputy chief of the Justice Department's Fraud Section in Washington, D.C., told Hoffman that Gross fled to Mexico on June 1 and turned up in Spain two days later.
Gross, who ran the now-bankrupt U.S. Mortgage company, was arrested in Spain in December and brought back to Las Vegas earlier this month.
When Gross was taken into custody, La Bella said, he still had his American passport, which was supposed to have been surrendered.
La Bella described Gross as a flight risk who has enough assets to flee again.
"I think there are funds that have not been accounted for, and I'm nervous about that," La Bella told Hoffman.
Defense lawyer Paola Armeni said Gross is in "fragile" health with serious heart and kidney problems, and she sought to craft a series of conditions, including electronic monitoring, to keep him out of jail. But Hoffman concluded there were no conditions that would prevent Gross from being a flight risk.
The bank fraud scheme against Gross was detailed in his February indictment. His company handled hundreds of loans for Wells Fargo Bank.
Between September 2004 and December 2006, Gross failed to transfer to Wells Fargo loan payoffs U.S. Mortgage collected and falsely reported to the bank that the company was still receiving monthly payments, the indictment alleges.
As of November 2006, according to the indictment, U.S. Mortgage reported that it had 190 loans with unpaid principal balances totalling roughly $22 million,
Instead of turning over the loan payoffs to Wells Fargo, Gross spent the money, the indictment alleges.
Gross faces two bank fraud counts and one count of making a false statement to a financial institution.
Federal prosecutors plan to seek an $8.4 million forfeiture judgment against Gross if he is convicted.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.
