Former exec convicted in huge US mortgage fraud

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Breitbart:

The former head of a large private mortgage lender was convicted Tuesday in a $2.9-billion fraud scheme that contributed to the failure of his company and of one of the top 25 US banks in 2009, officials said.

Lee Bentley Farkas, the former chairman of a private mortgage lending company, Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW), was convicted in a Virginia federal court of conspiracy to commit bank, wire and securities fraud and related charges, the Justice Department said.

According to prosecutors, Farkas and his co-conspirators engaged in a scheme that misappropriated more than $1.4 billion from Colonial Bank and $1.5 billion from Ocala Funding, a mortgage lending facility controlled by TBW.

The fraud scheme contributed to the failures of Colonial Bank and TBW during the global financial crisis that followed the meltdown in the US housing market.

"Lee Farkas, the former chairman of TBW, masterminded one of the largest bank fraud schemes in history," said Assistant Attorney Lanny General Breuer.

"His shockingly brazen scheme poured fuel on the fire of the financial crisis. It not only led to the downfall of TBW, one of the largest private mortgage lending companies in the United States, but also contributed to the failure of one of the country's largest commercial banks.

"Mr Farkas may have thought he could steal nearly $3 billion from investors and taxpayers and sail into the sunset. But now a jury has told him otherwise, and he must face the severe consequences."
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I'm surprised this guy wasn't in the Obama Administration...