CALLAWAY — Federal agents brought charges against eight more people for their alleged roles in a $40 million mortgage fraud conspiracy stretching across multiple states, law enforcement officials announced late Thursday.
Federal agents claim the eight defendants conspired to use straw buyers to make mortgage loan applications, false statements, misrepresentations and omissions in the mortgage loan applications and to conceal the scheme to avert detection from lending institutions. Many of the loans are now in default and/or foreclosure.
The indictment identified fraudulent transactions for nine properties on Ann Street in Santa Rosa Beach and implicated Ileana E. Osborne, 44, of Santa Rosa Beach, as a pivotal participant. The indictment says other properties involved were in other parts of Florida, including Bay County, as well as Georgia, Louisiana, Texas and California.
Jack R. Coppenger, 49, of Akron, Ohio, already has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in July for using “straw buyers” to secure lands in WatersEdge, a development near Allanton in southeast Bay County. He pleaded guilty for conspiring to commit bank fraud and making false statements to influence a bank to make a loan. More than 40 people have been found guilty of crimes for their involvement in the mortgage fraud scheme.
Prosecutors said Osborne, owner and operator of a mortgage brokerage company and a consulting company, and Coppenger operate several businesses related to real estate development. The other seven people served as the straw buyers, according to the indictment.
The indictment states that at Osborne and Coppenger’s behest, a real estate agent or property finder located a property for sale. Osborne, Coppenger and others allegedly convinced the property owner to allow them and others to assist in the sale and purchase for a price satisfactory to the seller. Coppenger located a person with good credit who could serve as a straw buyer, and he solicited their participation by promising payments of as much as $25,000 in return for their help.
In some instances, Osborne, the allegegd straw buyer, Coppenger and others agreed to a sales price of the property in excess of the asking price and divided the difference between Osborne and Coppenger, their respective companies and others, according to the indictment.
The indictment states Osborne, as a licensed mortgage broker, along with the straw buyer, would fill out a loan application for the straw buyer. She and the straw buyer included false information, including inflating income amounts, falsely representing that the property would be used as a second residence, failing to disclose that the straw buyer was not the source of the down payment for the property, and other false statements.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert J. Patton and Om Kakani following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
If convicted, the defendants’ sentences will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case.
Also named in the 45-count indictment Thursday are: Kyle F. Conrad, 63, and Linda K. Conrad, 62, both of Hartville, Ohio; John J. Dubay, 48, of Delray Beach; Jon R. Jacobson, 50, of North Canton, Ohio; Harry S. Kaplan, 50, of Hillsboro Beach; David B. Romsey, 67, of Uniontown, Ohio; and Grace M. Wollerman, 49, of Mentor, Ohio.