Minneapolis Loan Officer Rolls First; Cops Plea For Part In Straw Buyer, Mortgage Scam Involving 24 Homes; Will Sing Against His Alleged Confederates

In Hennepin County, Minnesota, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:

• A 33-year-old Minneapolis man has admitted in Hennepin County District Court to his part in a mortgage fraud ring carried out by a Brooklyn Park mortgage company.
  Loan officer Andrae Bellfield pleaded guilty Tuesday to four counts of theft by swindle exceeding $35,000. He admitted to submitting false information to lenders in order to obtain mortgage loans. Under the agreement, Bellfield will be sentenced to two years in prison. He also agreed to testify in cases against Universal Mortgage President Donald Walthall and loan officer Marlin Pratt, who are scheduled for trial in early September.(1)

***

• All but one of the properties involved are in Minneapolis; the other is in Golden Valley. All but one wound up in foreclosure, he said. The other was given back to the bank.

For the story, see Loan officer admits role in mortgage fraud that shook north Minneapolis.

Go here for other posts on the alleged Universal Mortgage straw buyer, home flipping scams.

(1) According to the story, Bellfield, Walthall and Pratt were among several people charged in December in a $4.9 million mortgage fraud case involving at least 24 homes in Minneapolis and Golden Valley. As the winner of the "race to the prosecutor's office," Bellfield can expect his two year sentence to be significantly less than the sentences Walthall and Pratt could face if, rather than taking a plea bargain, they roll the dice, go to trial and lose.