Twin Cities-Area Home Builder, Others Plead Guilty In Massive Straw Buyer Scam

(original post 11-2-07)
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:

• The principal players behind a giant mortgage fraud conspiracy that beset several southern Twin Cities suburbs and cast a pall over the area's housing market pleaded guilty to felony charges today in U.S. District Court. Michael Parish, 62, president and owner of Parish Marketing and Development Corp., admitted to constructing the wide-ranging conspiracy that bilked lenders on nearly 200 properties that the company had built in New Prague, New Market and Lonsdale over the past few years.

• The company, which also pleaded guilty in the case, made at least $25 million on $100 million in loans that Parish and his co-conspirators had obtained by using "straw buyers" to purchase the homes. In its plea agreement, the company admitted to using the money to keep building homes, to make payments on some of the mortgages, and to keep the scheme going.

[...]

• His wife, Ardith, 61, admitted to playing a minor role in the conspiracy as a company's officer and its bookkeeper. She faces a maximum term of five years in prison plus 2 or 3 years of supervised release and restitution. Christopher Troup, 39, is a son-in-law of the Parishes who acted as a straw buyer on 60 properties, helped recruit other straw buyers, and created bogus documentation to qualify borrowers for larger loans and to substantiate inflated property appraisals. Troup pleaded guilty to conspiracy and one count of money laundering. The government estimates his recommended sentence at 9 to 111/4 years, plus 2 or 3 years of supervised release and restitution.

For more, see 3 defendants in mortgage fraud case plead guilty (A couple and their son-in-law in the wide-ranging scheme face from five to 14 years in prison).

See also, Developers plead guilty in Minn. mortgage fraud case (The Associated Press).

Go here for other posts on Minnesota homebuilder Parish Marketing and Development.