Kimberly Williams, 46, Town & Country, Missouri, was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison for tax evasion in connection with her role in a $2 million mortgage fraud scheme. On May 18, 2005 Williams plead guilty to one felony count of income tax evasion. As part of her plea, Williams agreed to pay the proceeds from the sale of her residence to the United States to pay back taxes and restitution.
According to the facts stated in court at the time of the plea, from June, 1999 to December, 2000, Williams participated in a $2 million mortgage fraud scheme. She purchased residential properties in the St. Louis, Missouri area for the true value of the property, paying cash and putting the properties in the name of a third party. Near the time of the original purchase, she arranged for each property to be sold to another person, obtaining a mortgage to fund the sale at a significantly higher price than the true value of the property. Williams submitted false loan applications to lenders to justify the mortgage being applied to purchase the property. Examples of false representations in the loan applications included the source of funds for down payments, the employment status of the person listed as the borrower, the value of the property and the purpose to which the funds would be used. Williams received most of the proceeds of the mortgage, which she used to buy a personal residence and other personal items and to make repairs to the properties purchased.
Williams also admitted that she failed to file a tax return for the tax year 2000. Williams had funds transferred into accounts not in her name, and used the names of others, to make it appear that she was not receiving the income from the property sales. Williams controlled how the funds were disbursed, and kept the vast majority of the income for her own use. Funds generated by the land flip scheme were used to make the down payment and the monthly mortgage payments for her residence.


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.