Lithonia man sentenced in mortgage fraud scheme
by Andy Phelan
andy@dekalbchamp.com
Ronald Denzil Martin Jr. of Lithonia, was sentenced last week to more than a year in jail for his part in a conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering operation related to a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme.
Martin, 37, who was paid $75,000 to act as a straw buyer and submit a fraudulent loan application for one of the properties, will also be subjected to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $423,595 as compensation.
Martin, who pled guilty in May 2007, was one of five defendants ordered to pay more than $8.5 million in restitution for mortgage fraud perpetrated in Alpharetta, Roswell and Duluth.
The most affected neighborhood was the exclusive St. Marlo area in north Fulton, where homes routinely sell for more than $1 million.
“These defendants and their codefendants are responsible for causing millions of dollars in losses to mortgage lenders by artificially inflating the sales prices on million dollar homes and submitting fraudulent loan applications to fund the purchases of these homes,” said United States Attorney David E. Nahmias.
“We will continue to vigorously investigate and prosecute mortgage fraud schemes in the metro Atlanta area,” he said.
According to Nahmias, Martin and his co-conspirators bilked millions in scheme that fraudulently inflated mortgage loans being provided to unqualified straw borrowers. The straw borrowers were paid as much as $600,000 per property from fraudulently obtained loan proceeds through shell companies.
Four other defendants have already been sentenced to prison terms in related cases, and five more defendants await sentencing.
Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation developed the case.
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