Jared Fanning, 35, Potomac, Maryland, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte to 22 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for wire fraud in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain mortgages worth approximately $13 million.
Judge Messitte also entered an order that Fanning pay restitution and forfeiture of $108,355.21, the amount of loss attributable to him resulting from the scheme.
According to his guilty plea, from June 2006 through June 2007, Fanning helped real estate agents Michael Abobor, Daniel Ofei and others obtain mortgages for the agents’ clients. During that time, Fanning learned that the information provided by the agents for mortgage applications was probably false.
For example, on multiple occasions, Fanning calculated debt-to-income and reported to the agents that the client had insufficient income. The agents responded immediately with “forgotten” monthly income of hundreds of dollars or more, leading Fanning to suspect that the additional income information supplied by the real estate agents was false. Despite Fanning’s concerns, he helped the agents obtain 24 mortgages totaling approximately $13 million.
According to evidence presented at the hearing, as a result of the fraudulent scheme, financial institutions suffered over $4.5 million in actual losses as a result of the financial transactions in which Fanning played a part.
Michael Abobor, 38, and Daniel Ofei, 39, both of Bowie, Maryland previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy. Judge Messitte sentenced Abobor to 51 months in prison and ordered him to forfeit $2,026,205 and pay restitution of $1,832,650. Judge Messitte sentenced Ofei to 37 months in prison and ordered Ofei to pay restitution of $5,950,000. Two other co-conspirators of Ofei and Ababor in the broader scheme, Emeka Udeze, age 38 of Bowie, a licensed mortgage broker, and Shola Risikat Balogun, age 47, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, have also pleaded guilty and await sentencing.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Kathy A. Michalko of the United States Secret Service – Washington Field Office; Acting Inspector General Fred W. Gibson, Jr., Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; and Special Agent in Charge Cary A. Rubenstein, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Sujit Raman, who prosecuted the case.
Beverly,
While Mr. Fanning might have seemed like a nice guy to you, he obviously was not an honest man as he admitted to and plead guilty to wire fraud in connection with $13 million of fraudulently obtained mortgages. He got what he deserved.
I am so sorry to hear of this honest man getting caught up with the wrong crowd. Mr. Fanning assisted me with two of my mortgage loans, one in 2006 and another one in 2009. Both times he was the utmost professional and even answered my queries well into the night and early in the morning. Things are not always as they seem. This man certainly did not deserve what he got. Beverly Christian (240) 499-5257