Former Mortgage Company Owner Sentenced To Over Six Years In Prison For Hud Loan Fraud
Las Vegas, Nev. – The former owner of Nevada First Residential Mortgage has been sentenced to over six years in federal prison for making false statements to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in order to obtain hundreds of mortgage loans for unqualified borrowers, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.
MARK YOUNG, age 41, of Las Vegas, was sentenced on Friday, March 10, 2006, to 78 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $457,740 in restitution to HUD. YOUNG was convicted by a jury in September 2005 of conspiracy (to make false statements) and 32 separate counts of making false statements.
From about May 2000 through June 2002, YOUNG owned and operated Nevada First Residential Mortgage in Las Vegas. YOUNG conspired with his own employees and employees of General Realty to create false mortgage loan packets for low-income borrowers (most of them illegal aliens) to enable them to obtain mortgages and purchase homes beyond their means. The loans were issued by borrowers insured by HUD. The false loan packets included false pay stubs, W-2 forms verifications of employment, credit references, gift letters, and other false information concerning the borrowers' employment, income, assets, immigration status, and credit history. During that period, YOUNG submitted 233 loan applications for HUD-insured loans. Of those 233 loans, 58 loans defaulted and the United States Government paid approximately $1.9 million in claims to lenders as a result of the defaults.
General Realty real estate agent Leo Werner also pleaded guilty to Conspiracy and was sentenced to 10 months in prison. Six others also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of making false statements to HUD and have been sentenced.
MARK YOUNG is released on a personal recognizance bond and was permitted to self-surrender to the Federal Bureau of Prisons no later than May 8, 2006.
The case was investigated by the FBI, HUD Office of the Inspector General, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Brian Pugh.
