A U.S. District Court judge in Delaware severed wire fraud charges against Sherry L. Freebery (arising from an alleged fraudulent mortgage transaction) from the racketeering case proceeding against former New Castle County, Delaware Executive Tom Gordon and top aide Freebery. The ruling was included in an order that dismissed multiple charges – including those arising from the governments’ allegations that Freebery used her position to help her friend, Lisa Dean Moseley, get county approvals for her golf course project after Moseley loaned Freebery $2.7 million. It is non-disclosure of this $2.7M loan that forms the basis of the fraudulent loan allegations.
In severing the loan charges, the court stated:
Ms. Freebery’s private mortgage transactions have nothing whatever to do with her official position with New Castle County, and the jury which tries the remainder of this Indictment should not be tainted by whatever irregularities may have attended Ms. Freebery’s private mortgage deals.
The case was also moved to Philadelphia for trial based on the submission of hundreds of newspapers articles and editorials on the case along with a public opinion poll conducted by an expert for the defendants that concluded that almost everyone in New Castle County had heard about the case and a substantial majority had already formed opinions.
Rachel Dollar, the editor of Mortgage Fraud Blog is an attorney and Certified Mortgage Banker who handles litigation for lending institutions and secondary market investors.