Milwaukee Man Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison for Wire Fraud and Money Laundering in Mortgage Fraud Scheme

United States Attorney James L. Santelle announced that on June 25, 2014, Billy Cannon, Sr. (49) of Milwaukee, WI, was sentenced to 48 months in prison for wire fraud and money laundering.  His incarceration will be concurrent to a 16 year sentence he received earlier this year in state court for drug and firearm offenses. 

From at least June 2006 through July 2007, Cannon worked as a mortgage broker and used straw buyers to fraudulently obtain mortgages for numerous properties on the north and northwest side of the city of Milwaukee.  Loan applications submitted to lenders by Cannon contained material misrepresentations which made the straw buyers more appealing candidates for a mortgage.  The straw buyers almost uniformly defaulted on the loans.  In all, nearly a million dollars was lost by lenders as a result of the scheme. Cannon has been ordered to pay restitution to the lenders for the losses incurred.    

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and was   prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lisa Wesley.