Georgia Man Sentenced in Mortgage and Bankruptcy Fraud Related to Loans Funded by Failed Bank

Now-Failed Omni National Bank Helped Fund Millions in Loans for Convicted Mortgage Fraudster Mark McBride

Mark Anthony McBride, 44, a/k/a “Charles Conley,” “Charles Conley, Jr.,” and “Manuel Evans,” of East Point, Ga., was sentenced today by United States District Court Judge Jack T. Camp on charges of conspiracy to commit bank, mail, wire, and bankruptcy fraud. McBride was also sentenced for violating the terms of his supervised release on a prior federal mortgage fraud conviction.

U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, “The lengthy sentence imposed in this case reflects the damage this defendant did to dozens of banks, including the now-failed Omni National Bank, as well as his abuse of U.S. Bankruptcy courts in three states from his fraudulent filings designed to delay property foreclosures.”

McBride was sentenced to 16 years and two months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,197,929 in restitution on the charges related to his latest mortgage fraud. He was also sentenced to a consecutive two years in prison for violating supervised release on his prior mortgage fraud conviction.

McBride pleaded guilty to the new charges and admitted his supervised release violations on April 24, 2009.

According to U.S. Attorney Yates and the information presented in court: In 2001, immediately upon release from prison on a prior bank fraud conviction, McBride began a mortgage fraud scheme that continued until 2002, when he reported for service of another federal prison sentence. In that scheme, McBride used unqualified borrowers to obtain fraudulently inflated loans. When he was released again from prison in November 2006, McBride was placed in a halfway house. The evidence showed that while under supervision at the halfway house, he was able to attend his own fraudulent loan closings. After his release from the halfway house, McBride continued his scheme of obtaining fraudulent mortgage loans, vehicle loans, lines of credit, credit cards, and other extensions of credit in his name, in his aliases, in the names of numerous stolen identities, and in the identities of other unqualified borrowers. These fraudulent loans continued until McBride was arrested in September 2008 for violating his supervised release. Dozens of banks and other lenders, including the now-failed “Omni National Bank,” funded fraudulent loans for McBride.

McBride generated mortgage loan proceeds for himself using inflated valuations for properties securing the loans, and shared those proceeds with his straw borrowers and other conspirators. He was able to retain fraud proceeds by filing eight fraudulent bankruptcy cases in Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina. The last such fraudulent filing was a May 2008 petition in Atlanta, filed in a bogus name and stolen Social Security Number. The petition falsely stated he had never filed bankruptcy in the past.

Additional Omni-related prosecutions to date include:

Jeffrey L. Levine, 68, of Atlanta, who pleaded guilty on January 14, 2010, to causing materially false entries that overvalued bank assets to be made in the books, reports, and statements of Omni, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 25, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. before United States District Judge Jack T. Camp.

Delroy Oliver Davy, 37, of Lithonia, Ga., was charged in a criminal information on December 18, 2009, with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank, mail, and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain millions of dollars of mortgage loans from Omni and other lenders. A guilty plea is scheduled for May 11, 2010, at 2 p.m. before United States District Judge Jack T. Camp.

Brent Merrill, 37, of Atlanta, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and aggravated identity theft on March 23, 2010. When facing foreclosure on 14 properties, Merrill attempted to arrange “short sales” in the names of people whose identities had been stolen to obtain forgiveness from the FDIC of $2.2 million in Omni loan payoffs. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 25, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. before United States District Judge Jack T. Camp.

These cases are part of President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.

President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.

These Omni-related cases are being investigated by a Mortgage Fraud Task Force comprised of the U. S. Postal Inspection Service, Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General (OIG), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-Office of Inspector General (FDIC- OIG), Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and special agents of the FBI. Assistance in this case has also been provided by the Office of the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gale McKenzie and Chris Bly.

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