Robin Neil Snyder, mortgage broker, 56, Reisterstown, Maryland, and Mortgage Bankers, Ltd. were indicted by a federal grand jury for wire fraud and money laundering arising from a scheme to defraud commercial loan applicants.

According to the 17-count indictment, Snyder owned and operated Mortgage Bankers, Ltd., originally located in Baltimore, Maryland and relocated to Owings Mills, Maryland in 2005. From about March 2002 to January 2006, Snyder used internet websites to advertise and solicit customers for his lending businesses, and promote Mortgage Bankers as a commercial lender capable of providing “difficult” or “impossible” loans anywhere in the United States in amounts up to $300 million. Snyder had prospective commercial borrowers mail and fax to Mortgage Bankers business plans, appraisals, tax returns and insurance information in support of the borrowers’ loan applications. Snyder would advise the applicants that based on his review of their applications, the applicants were qualified to receive the loans. He falsely stated that he or another lending source he had located would be the lender. In fact, Snyder had insufficient funds available to lend and had not located other lending sources.

According to the indictment, the loan applicants were required to pay a nonrefundable advance fee referred to as a “mortgage origination fee” and a “conditional commitment fee.” Applicants were falsely advised that settlement would take place after underwriter issues were resolved. However, Mortgage Bankers had no underwriting staff and none of the supporting documentation supplied to Mortgage Bankers was ever submitted to another company for independent underwriting. After the commercial loan applicants transferred the advance fees, it became difficult for the applicants to contact Snyder, leaving the borrowers with no information about their anticipated settlement dates. On those occasions when loan applicants were able to make contact with Snyder, he refused to schedule a settlement date. Although the applicants complied with all requests for income and document verification, Snyder refused to close the loans and kept approximately $339,500 in advance fees.

Snyder faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for each count of wire fraud and money laundering.