Richard Weldon Crowder, II, Gary Mark Mills, and Karen Lynn Sullivan are charged in a criminal information with conspiracy to commit bank fraud for their participation in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud conspiracy.

Crowder is a licensed mortgage broker and the former owner of America’s Best Mortgage Services, Inc., located in Coconut Creek, Florida. Mills is a licensed title attorney and the owner of Four Star Title Inc., located in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Sullivan is a former loan officer for Wachovia Bank. In total, the defendants are alleged to have caused the fraudulent purchase of approximately seventeen (17) different luxury condominiums, involving more than $42,000,000 in fraudulently obtained mortgage loans.

Under the scheme, Crowder is alleged to have identified residential properties, including luxury condominiums on South Beach, Florida, that were available for purchase. Crowder then recruited buyers for the properties by representing to them that he could obtain 100% financing. After locating the buyers, Crowder applied for equity lines of credit on their behalf with Wachovia Bank. To induce Wachovia to issue the equity lines of credit, Crowder and Mills prepared fraudulent HUD-1 settlement forms that falsely stated that the buyers already owned the properties. The fraudulent HUD-1s were then given to Sullivan, who used them to facilitate the issuance of equity lines of credit from Wachovia.

Simultaneously, or sometimes soon after obtaining the equity lines of credit from Wachovia, Crowder applied for the first mortgages on the properties. These applications overstated the buyers’ assets and income, and also included false verification of deposit forms prepared by Sullivan. To further induce the lenders to issue the loans, Mills prepared documents falsely representing that the buyers were using their own money for the down payments and closing costs. In fact, the buyers were using funds from the fraudulently obtained Wachovia equity lines credit or funds provided by Crowder.

If convicted, the defendants face up to thirty years’ imprisonment, restitution and fines of up to $1,000,000.