Donald MacPherson, one of the prime architects of a massive mortgage fraud involving mostly Hamptons, New York, properties, was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison in Suffolk County court, New York.
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MacPherson‘s wife Carrie Coakley, ex-county legislator George Guidi and others schemed to defraud mortgage lenders out of an estimated 82 million dollars in a scheme that dated back to 2002.
34 Restitution Judgment Orders were obtained against MacPherson, totaling 44 million dollars on behalf of the victimized lenders.
The defendant’s wife, Carrie Coakley, pleaded guilty in December 2011 to grand larceny in the second degree and scheme to defraud in the first Degree and will be sentenced March 8, 2012. Her sentence is pending the contents of a Suffolk County Department of Probation pre-sentencing report.
MacPherson‘s codefendant George Guidi is incarcerated in the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Sullivan County, New York. Convicted after trial on insurance fraud and grand larceny charges, Judge James F.X. Doyle sentenced the ex-lawmaker to four to 12 years in prison. Five months later, Judge Doyle sentenced Guidi to a concurrent one to three year sentence for his role in the mortgage fraud ring. The district attorney’s office recommended Guidi receive eight and one-third to 25 years in prison consecutive to his insurance fraud sentence.
Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota announced the sentence.
“JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other lenders were swindled by this defendant and his associates who arranged for the filing of mortgage applications that were filled with fraud, specifically false employer information supplied to straw purchasers, forged notary signatures, and fa lsified powers of attorney and fictional bank balances,” said District Attorney Spota. “Every one of these mortgages for some 60 homes ended up in default. The defendants’ greed inflicted massive economic damage to the banking industry and the regional economy”.
