Escrow officer sentenced in mortgage fraud scheme
An escrow officer indicted in connection with Operation Stolen Dreams, a nationwide initiative aimed at combating mortgage fraud, was sentenced Wednesday in Las Vegas to two years in prison.
Brenda Jackson pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.
She was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson, who gave her until June 18 to surrender to prison. He also ordered her to join her co-defendant, real estate agent Curtis Briley, in paying about $1.8 million in restitution.
Briley pleaded guilty last month to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Dawson is scheduled to sentence him April 25.
Authorities said 123 defendants were charged, convicted or sentenced in Las Vegas during Operation Stolen Dreams, which began March 1, 2010. The results were announced June 17, 2010, the day after Jackson and Briley were indicted.
According to the indictment, the pair began conspiring in 2006 or 2007 and engaged in schemes that involved double escrows and straw buyers.
The indictment defines a fraudulent double escrow as "a real estate transaction involving two contracts at two different prices, with two different buyers, on the same property, closing escrow on the same day, intentionally not disclosed to the lender." Perpetrators of fraud use double escrows to divert money from mortgage loans for their personal use.
A straw buyer is a person who pretends to be a legitimate buyer for property in order to conceal the identity of the actual buyer.
According to the indictment, Briley and Jackson caused co-conspirator real estate appraisers to prepare appraisal reports that falsely overstated the value of properties and caused those appraisals to be submitted to lenders.
Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@review journal.com or 702-384-8710.
