Six people plead guilty last week in connection with a Mississippi mortgage fraud scam:

John William Emory, III, mortgage broker, Ridgeland, Mississippi

Bobby F. Fisher, 44, attorney and former Municipal Court judge, Greenwood, Mississippi

Jimmie L. Pruett, 68, real estate agent, Greenwood, Mississippi,

Joni Lynn Goss, 41, Greenwood, Mississippi

Ernest Wayne White., Jr, 36, mortgage broker

Daniel Floyd

Emory plead guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. According to the information, Emory worked as a mortgage broker in Hinds County, Mississippi for various companies including Wholesale Mortgage, Inc. and Mississippi Mortgage, Inc. From June 200 through October 2002 the information alleges that Emory and other affiliated mortgage brokers would seek out prospective borrowers and try to qualify them for a home mortgage- typically one that the borrower could not afford. Emory and the other brokers would obtain the basic information from the borrower would either personally enter false information on the loan application forms or would direct others to do so. Emory and others would prepare or obtain false documents that would be submitted to the lender to support the false information on the loan application, including false VODs, VORs and VOEs. Also according to the information, knowing that the borrowers were unable to afford a down payment, Emory and others would falsely list on the application that the borrower would provide cash at close or had down payment funds and on occasion would provide a false and fraudulent VOE purporting to be from the borrower’s bank. Emory faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the wire fraud charge and 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the money laundering charge.

Fisher plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud and one count of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity. Fisher was an attorney licensed to practice in Mississippi and engaged primarily in the business of closing real estate loans. According to information, beginning in September 1999, in Hinds County, Mississippi, Fisher and others worked closely with numerous mortgage brokers to obtain loans for borrowers through various lenders. They are alleged to have caused false and fictitious documents to be created to ensure that the mortgage loans would be granted and to have converted some of the proceeds for their own use and benefit. The false documents are alleged to have included false VODs, VORs and VOEs. Fisher and others were also alleged to have made false entries on loan applications consistent with the false documents. The information alleges that they obtained loans for approximately 48 borrowers totaling over $2.5M by creating false documents and making false entries on documents submitted to lender.

Fisher faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy charge and a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine on the money laundering charge.

Pruett plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud and one count of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity. According to the information, Pruett who was a real estate agent and the owner of numerous properties, engaged in the business of selling properties to borrowers. Pruett would find borrowers to purchase homes and solicit mortgage brokers to obtain new mortgages for the borrowers through various lenders. He would cause false and fictitious documents to be prepared to insure that lenders would make mortgage loans to prospective borrowers. The documents included false VODs, VORs and documents verifying borrower’s income. He would also make or cause to be made false entries on loan applications consistent with the false documents including entries showing the borrower paid cash at the loan closing when no funds were paid. From February 2000 through indictment, Pruett and others successfully obtained loans for approximately 17 borrowers totaling over $800,000 by creating false documentation and making false entries on documents and used some of the proceeds for his own benefit. Pruett owned Leflore Properties, Inc. Pruett faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy charge and a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine on the money laundering charge.

Goss plead guilty to engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000. The information alleges that she issued a check for over $30,000 in funds derived from a specified unlawful activity. According to media sources, she operated a mortgage company with her ex-husband. She faces a maximum sentence of is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine

White plead guilty to one count of engaging in a monetary transactions in criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000. The information alleges that, in April 2001, he issued a check for over $30,000 in funds derived from a specified unlawful activity. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Floyd plead guilty to one count of misprision of a felony (failure to report mail fraud and wire fraud) as charged in the information. According to media reports, Floyd was an employee of Fisher. He faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

According to media reports, last August in a deposition taken in a federal civil lawsuit, Pruett said under oath that Fisher had helped him form Greenwood Leflore Properties in 1989 and did some work for him in title and loan closing, and that Floyd was a coordinator for brokers that Fisher used to process loans. Pruett denied having conducted any business with White and did not mention any relationship with Emory.

Floyd is scheduled to be sentenced on March 22, 2006. Emory, Fisher, Pruett, White and Goss are scheduled for sentencing on April 3, 2006.