Man Gets 5 Years in $9.154 Million Bloomfield Hills Mortgage Fraud Case

A Michigan man who who conspired to obtain fraudulent mortgage loans on several Bloomfield Hills properties has been sentenced to five years in jail and ordered to pay $7,912,950 in restitution, federal authorities said.

Stacy Morgan, 46, was sentenced in December after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud, Jarod J. Koopman, special agent in charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation division said. Upon release from prison, Morgan will serve two years of supervised probation.

Koopman was joined in the announcement by Barbara L. McQuade, United States Attorney for the Eastern Judicial District of Michigan.

According to court records, between December 2003 and February 2008, Morgan conspired with others to obtain fraudulent mortgage loans on at least four properties located in Bloomfield Hills.

» For stories like this one, and to stay on top of what’s happening in the Bloomfield area, subscribe to the daily Bloomfield-Bloomfield Hills Patch newsletter.

Morgan acted in various capacities, including loan facilitator and recruiter of the individuals that acted as the purported loan applicants falsified material information in the loan applications and closing documents, the government said.

These false and fraudulent statements, including inflated straw buyer income and asset information, false employment verification and false bank records were then relied upon by the lenders when granting more than $9.154 million in loans.

“Individuals who engage in mortgage fraud leave lenders burdened with bad loans and neighborhoods with abandoned properties,” Koopman said. “Those who choose to line their pockets with profits from these crimes should know that they will face severe consequences for their illegal acts.”

The investigation of this case was conducted by Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.

_____

Photo via Shutterstock