James Rucker, mortgage broker, Chicago, Illinois admitted to his role in a scheme to defraud lenders of over $900,000 through more than a dozen mortgage transactions in Illinois between 1998 and 2002. The plea agreement indicates that Rucker and his co-conspirators used shell companies, false income, misrepresented asset documentation and fake down payment information in order to originate loans on these properties. In some cases they also obtained fees payable to themselves, aliases or shell companies in order to extract additional equity from the transactions. According to the indictment, the defendants worked for Ravenswood Mortgage, Design Mortgage Corporation and/or Comprehensive Mortgage Corporation.
It appears through court records that Rucker is the last of the eight individuals indicted on January 22, 2004 to have pled guilty in this scheme. Three have been sentenced to jail time and one to probation while over $740,000 in total restitution is required.
Rucker’s alleged co-conspirators are:
Virgil Griffin – Pled guilty, sentenced to 8 months jail time, 2 years supervised release and over $200,000 restitution
Tina Hoard – to be sentenced on June 23, 2006
Gregory Jacobs – to be sentenced on June 23, 2006
Stephen Lawhorn – Pled guilty, sentenced to 30 days jail time, 3 years supervised release and over $80,000 restitution
Patricia Mays – Pled Guilty February 23, 2006
Carmen Perry – Sentenced to 24 months jail time, 3 years supervised release and over $280,000 restitution
William Scott – Pled Guilty, sentenced to 3 year probation and over $180,000 in restitution
Involved properties:
2909 Walnut, Chicago, IL
422 Leamington, Chicago, IL
6712 S Aberdeen, Chicago, IL
436 Leamington, Chicago, IL
422 Central Avenue, Matteson, IL
675 Primrose, Matteson, IL
16041 Red Cloud Dr, Lockport, IL
4732 S St Lawrence, Chicago, IL
15305 S Afton, Markham, IL
9929 S Lowe, Chicago, IL
1459 Hawk Dr, Bolingbrook, IL
648 Larkspur Ln, Matteson, IL
6138 S May, Chicago, IL
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.