United States v. Spencer, No. 13-3523 (7th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseBrown defrauded Chicago-area mortgage lenders in 2004-2008, arranging with home builders and other sellers of new houses to receive fees for locating buyers to purchase their properties at inflated prices. Using his businesses, including Chicago Global, Brown located nominee buyers. To obtain financing, the nominees were referred to loan officers, including Spencer, who fraudulently qualified them for loans through false statements and documentation. Once a purchase was finalized, Brown and his coconspirators kept the surplus amount above what the seller was seeking. As co-owner of Chicago Global, Jackson recruited nominee buyers and provided, or caused to be provided, funds for the purchases and falsely represented the nominees as the source of those funds. Jackson’s participation in the scheme resulted in $8,515,570 losses to lenders. Spencer’s participation as a loan officer, assisting nominee buyers in 12 different fraudulent real estate transactions, resulted in $3,091,050 losses to lenders. Jackson was charged with wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. 1343, and mail fraud, 18 U.S.C. 1341. The Seventh Circuit affirmed Spencer’s conviction for bank fraud, 18 U.S.C. 1344, and mail fraud and her 36-month sentence and affirmed Jackson’s conviction, but vacated her 112-month sentence, finding that an obstruction of justice enhancement was improperly applied.
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