Monday, April 2, 2012

led by former Realtors Craig Adams and George Bobka get at least 19 fraudulent loans totaling $13.2 million from 2003 to 2005.

Flipping sentence tempered by defendant's cooperation | HeraldTribune.com:

'via Blog this'SARASOTA - The first figure to be sentenced in Southwest Florida's broad flipping fraud conspiracy got three months of home detention and 250 hours of community service.
It was a sentence typical of white collar cases, particularly those where the defendant cooperates closely with federal investigators ferreting out other players.
But Craig Whitehead's sentence rankled even the judge handing it out and left some experts scratching their heads as to why the former Washington Mutual loan officer was not saddled with more charges related to the 19 fraudulent loans he helped shepherd through his bank.
Whitehead pleaded guilty to three overt acts of fraud and provided extensive assistance to the government by testifying against the only three defendants in the case who chose to go to trial: George Cavallo, Paula Hornberger and Joel Streinz.
But court documents show that the former loan officer helped members of the conspiracy led by former Realtors Craig Adams and George Bobka get at least 19 fraudulent loans totaling $13.2 million from 2003to 2005.
When it came to sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge James D. Whittemore acknowledged that he had little choice but to give Whitehead "a proverbial slap on the wrist."
With the nation still reeling from the aftermath of the fraud and excess in all levels of the real estate game during the boom years, critics noted the apparent lack of correlation between crime and punishment in Whitehead's sentence.
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