Cincinnati Scammer Sentenced In "Straw Buyer" Flipping Scheme

Troy S. Clements was sentenced Wednesday in a Cincinnati, Ohio Federal Court to 24 months in prison for his role in a loan scheme that defrauded mortgage lenders out of $2.3 million, according to a report in The Enquirer, at Cincinnati.com. The sentencing came as a result of Clements' agreeing to plead guilty to one charge of bank fraud and one charge of money laundering last September in lieu of demanding a jury trial (originally a 21 count indictment). This is the latest conviction resulting from a joint mortgage fraud investigation by the local U.S. Attorney's Office, FBI, IRS, Secret Service, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service involving over $50 million in properties in the Greater Cincinnati area.

The victimized financial institutions include ABN Amro Mortgage Group, Inc., Washington Mutual Bank, and Chase Manhattan Bank (now a part of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank of Columbus, Ohio. Other victims include Southstar Funding, LLC and Ashore Funding, Inc., two private mortgage lenders, as well as the homebuyers themselves who were duped into believing that the financing being arranged was legitimate, no money down, 100% financing.

To read the article, see Two years in prison for mortgage fraud. To read the court filings, which detail the grand jury's probable cause findings as to the fraud see:

• 21 Count Grand Jury Indictment - U.S. v. Clements, et. al.
• Plea Bargain Agreement - U.S. v. Clements

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