• 26
  • July
    2011

On Monday, a former FBI Special Agent from Brentwood, Tennessee was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Nashville to 48 months in prison for 15 convictions of wire fraud and three counts of bankruptcy fraud.

Those convictions, which came in December 2010 after a jury trial in U.S. District Court, arise from a scheme to defraud SunTrust Mortgage Co. Inc. in connection with the purchase of rental properties worth a total of $1.25 million back in May and July 2006.

Also implicated in the charges was a scheme to defraud the SunTrust Bank in regard to a $100,000 credit line. The former FBI Agent also reportedly made three false statements in connection to a subsequent bankruptcy filing in July 2009. Last May, the agent was indicted by a federal grand jury for wire fraud, bank fraud, and swearing a false oath in bankruptcy.

The former agent was, in addition to his prison time, ordered to pay 4675,142.83 in restitution to the victims of his fraud scheme as well as a $1,800 special assessment. Following his release from incarceration, he will also be serving a three year term of supervised release.

Sources said the investigation leading up to the conviction was conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General and the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee's Offices in Chattanooga and Nashville.

U.S. Attorney Bill Killian expressed satisfaction over the sentence, saying, "This [sentence] shows that no one is above the law [and that] anyone who violates the laws of the United States will be prosecuted regardless of his or her position."

Source: LoanSafe.org, "Former FBI Special Agent Sentenced to Prison for Federal Wire and Bankruptcy Fraud," Moe Bedard, 25 July 2011.