Real Estate Attorney Gets Almost Five Years in Federal Prison for Role in Mortgage Fraud Scheme

On Nov. 25, 2008, Mary Reagan, a Georgia real estate attorney was sentenced to serve almost five years in federal prison for her role in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme. Reagan pleaded guilty in July 2008 shortly before she was to go to trial and agreed to assist the government in the prosecution of the scheme.

According to the complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, from mid-2004 through June 2006, Reagan closed millions of dollars of fraudulently inflated mortgage loans for unqualified straw buyers. Reagan was the attorney responsible for representing the mortgage lenders at the closing table.

Under the scheme, when the loans closed, Reagan would transfer millions of dollars of the inflated loan proceeds to her co-conspirators by falsifying closing documents and concealing the true identity of the loan recipients from the lenders.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice