Pickerington Man Gets 1-Year Sentence For Mortgage Fraud - WCMH: News, Weather, and Sports for Columbus, Ohio

Pickerington Man Gets 1-Year Sentence For Mortgage Fraud

A Pickerington man was sentenced to 12 months in prison for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme.

Cameron Green, 36, of Pickerington, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $6,115,965 in restitution, jointly and severally with Jason Simcox and Kevin Simcox, to the victim mortgage lenders for fraudulently obtaining approximately $15,037,421 in mortgage loans to finance the purchase of 26 real estate properties in Maricopa County, Arizona.

On January 9, 2013 Jason Simcox, 39, of Pickerington, Ohio was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge George C. Smith to 12 months and one day in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $6,115,965 in restitution, jointly and severally with Cameron Green and Kevin Simcox, to the victim mortgage lenders.

According to court documents, between August 2006 and May 2007, the two men applied for loans using false income, assets, and occupancy statements on the loan applications. The mortgage loans were inflated to allow Simcox and Green to use the excess mortgage proceeds to generate cash kickbacks payable to co-conspirators that were undisclosed to the mortgage lenders. The co-conspirators then provided the money to Simcox and Green via interstate wire transfers.

The men used a mortgage brokerage company they co-owned, Vanguard Mortgage, located in Westerville, Ohio, to finance the purchases of the properties. Each man inflated his income, minimized his assets, failed to disclose his ownership of several other properties on which he held mortgage loans, and concealed the fact that he intended to receive substantial cash kickbacks after the closing of three properties. Simcox and Green received approximately $1,469,263.00 in seller kickbacks, real estate agent commissions, real estate agent commission kickbacks, and fees.

All 26 of the Arizona properties were subsequently sold short or foreclosed upon due to the borrowers being unable to pay the monthly mortgage payments.