Marty Ray Folwick, 50, Portland, Oregon, was sentenced to 63 months in prison by United States District Judge Garr M. King for his part in a mortgage fraud scheme. In addition, Folwick was order to make restitution of $536, 514 to one bank. Other victim banks will have 60 days to seek further restitution. As part of the sentence, Folwick was ordered to forfeit $25,000. The defendant was ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on January 22, 2009. After release from prison, he will be required to serve 48 months of supervised release. Folwick was sentenced based on his entry of a guilty plea on October 2, 2008, to bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering charges.

As previously reported on the Mortgage Fraud Blog, the charges to which Folwick pled guilty relate to a single property in Woodburn, Oregon, which was purchased for $390,000. The indictment alleged that Folwick, a real estate loan officer, found buyers for the property and then falsified their loan application by overstating their monthly income, failing to disclose that the buyers had an outstanding mortgage on another property, and failing to disclose that Folwick was receiving a $25,000 kickback from the transaction. At the plea hearing, prosecutors argued that Folwick had engaged in similar illegal conduct with respect to almost seventy properties. The government submitted a memorandum asserting that there were 32 victim banks and 21 straw buyers used by Folwick to perpetuate his mortgage fraud scheme.

“This case involves the kind of fraud that is at the very heart of the mortgage crisis,” stated U.S. Attorney Karin J. Immergut. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon has made mortgage fraud a top priority and will continue to hold accountable those who seek to profit from the mortgage industry through lies and deception.”