Final Defendant Sentenced In Central Florida Foreclosure Rescue Scam

The Saint Petersburg Times reports:

• The judge's message was clear: If Amy Hudd Paukner had stood trial with co-workers charged with running a massive mortgage fraud scheme, she would be in federal prison now like the rest of them. "I think you deserve to go to jail, quite candidly," U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore said to Paukner on Monday. But Paukner, 36, has chronic multiple sclerosis. So Whittemore sentenced her to time served. Others received sentences ranging from a year and a day to five years.

• In March, a federal jury convicted five Tampa residents that Paukner worked with for scamming homeowners into selling their homes to avoid foreclosure.

For more, see Of 6 in scam, one goes free (The woman with multiple sclerosis aided in defrauding owners facing foreclosure).

For prior post on this story, see Florida Foreclosure Rescue Operators Found Guilty In Federal Fraud Trial.

For more on equity stripping scams, generally, see DREAMS FORECLOSED: The Rampant Theft of Americans' Homes Through Equity-stripping Foreclosure 'Rescue' Scams (4.61 MB approx.).