Justin Batemon, 34, Hayward, Calif., was sentenced to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution for his role in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme.
The defendant pleaded guilty on Jan. 31, 2012, to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and to wire fraud. According to court documents, from 2006 until early 2007 Batemon was involved in a scheme to fraudulently obtain mortgage loans for parcels of real property located in Northern California, including property located at Muscat Court, Petaluma, Calif.
Batemon referred his friends, who included members and associates of the Hells Angels, to co-defendant Jacob Moynihan, a loan officer in San Francisco. As part of the conspiracy, Batemon obtained fraudulent mortgage loans by making up a company where he was self-employed. Batemon inflated his income and then had Moynihan and others provide altered bank statements.
In addition to his involvement in the fraudulent purchase of the Muscat property, Batemon also was involved in rehabilitating properties to be flipped to sell to other fraudulent buyers in the scheme. He enabled the conspiracy to persist and benefitted financially from it. In total, the scheme involved more than $15 million in fraudulent mortgage loans.
During the prosecution, the government discovered that Batemon had submitted fraudulent letters to the Court concerning his bond status. Specifically, Batemon submitted a letter from his employer explaining, among other things, why he failed to appear for court-ordered drug tests. In reality, the employer had not written the letter and the signature had been forged. The Court therefore imposed a sentencing enhancement for obstruction of justice.
Batemon was one of several defendants who, on Sept. 1, 2011, was indicted for the conspiracy by a federal grand jury. He was charged with conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and wire fraud. He pleaded guilty to all counts against him in the indictment.
The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup. Judge Alsup also sentenced the defendant to a three-year period of supervised release with special conditions that include that Batemon not associate with Hells Angels members.
United States Attorney Melinda Haag announced the sentence.
Kathryn Haun is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of legal assistant Daniel Charlier-Smith. The prosecution is the result of a multi-year investigation by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Santa Rosa Resident Agency.
