Brian L. Nehrig, 43, Fishers, Indiana, was sentenced to three years probation following his guilty plea to mail fraud.

As previously reported on Mortgage Fraud Blog, during 2005 and 2006, Nehrig worked as a foreclosure attorney doing foreclosure work for Citifinancial. Citifinancial required Nehrig to submit a bid at sheriff's sales for foreclosed houses, sell the houses at arm's length transactions, and then submit the proceeds if the home sold to a third party. Instead, Nehrig sometimes submitted inflated bids and had arrangements with friends and associates to buy the properties. Nehrig did not tell Citifinancial about the side deals, which were usually for a few thousand dollars more than the minimum bid requested by Citifinancial. Nehrig did not send Citifinancial the profits. The Court determined the loss to Citifinancial to be $66,000. Citifinancial has been paid through an insurance claim.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Gayle L. Helart, who prosecuted the case for the government, Judge Barker also imposed six months' home confinement, and a requirement that Nehrig perform eight hours of community service per month for each of the 36 months that he is on probation. Nehrig was fined in the amount of $2500. Judge Barker noted that Nehrig's law license was previously revoked and ordered that he not be self-employed and give full disclosure of this felony conviction to any future employer.

This case was the result of a investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.