Robert Green, 52, New Orleans, Louisiana, was sentenced by the Honorable A. J. McNamara to five (5) years probation pursuant to his plea of guilty to conspiracy to make false statements to obtain HUD insurance. The defendant was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $8,000.

According to the bill of information and documents filed at the time of his plea of guilty, Green prepared false tax returns for straw buyers in connection with fraudulent FHA loan applications at Citywide Mortgage. The fraudulent loan applications included not only false tax information, but also false credit information and an inflated real estate appraisal. Citywide approved the loans and applied for HUD insurance for the loans. Based on the fraudulent applications, the Department of Housing and Urban Development insured the loans. Citywide then sold the loans to another mortgage company. Various properties eventually went into default and HUD became responsible for paying off those loans. Green admitted that his actions were part of a larger scheme and that he prepared false tax returns for several straw buyers.

Green is the fourth person to plead guilty to charges stemming from this investigation. Three straw buyers, Timothy Falls, Dennis Addison, and Dennis LeBlanc have pled guilty to similar charges and were sentenced in 2007. The president of City Wide Mortgage, Michael O’Keefe, Jr. is scheduled to go to trial on charges related to this scheme on July 7, 2008 before the Honorable Ivan L.R. Lemelle.