Brent Michael Barber, 41, Missouri, plead guilty to 104 federal felony counts levied in two separate mortgage fraud cases. In total, he plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy, ninety eight counts of interstate transportation of funds obtained by fraud and four counts of money laundering. In total, the charges involved approximately 300 loans totaling $20,000,000. Last year, Barber was tried under a separate third indictment and convicted. This plea agreement avoids the need for additional trials.

By way of the guilty plea, Barber admitted, among other things that:

From May through October 1999, he was a client of Ameriquest Mortgage, Gladstone, Missouri and, during that time, conspired with the branch manager, Roderick Criss, and two account executives, Chancey Calvert and Avonda Nicodemus to obtain money by fraud from Ameriquest and others. As part of the fraud scheme, they fraudulently induced investors to purchase real estate and obtain loans by promising that Barber would obtain renters for and sell the properties within a short period of time, that the investors would pay no money for the properties and have no expenses or obligations and that they investors would be paid fees or a percentage of the profits. They also prepared false loan applications and supporting documents for submission to Ameriquest and caused the preparation of inflated appraisals. Loan proceeds were disbursed to Barber through representations that he and companies under his control held first mortgages on the properties. Between June 9, 1999 and September 27, 1999, Ameriquest approved 66 fraudulent loans totaling approximately four million dollars. Between February 3, 2000 and December 26, 2001 lenders approved approximately 223 fraudulent loans totaling approximately $15,608,733.