Virginia Couple Plead Guilty In Foreclosure Rescue Ponzi Scheme

In Richmond, Virginia, the Richmond Times Dispatch reports:

• A Chesterfield County couple who defrauded fellow church members and others in a Ponzi scheme pleaded guilty yesterday and agreed to repay victims more than $9.7 million. Darrell Underwood, 42, faces up to 10 years in prison and Cynthia Underwood, 41, five years when sentenced on Sept. 17. Each was found guilty of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Darrell Underwood also pleaded guilty to engaging in unlawful transactions.

• The two owned Walkwood Properties in Midlothian, which specialized in helping homeowners about to lose their homes to foreclosure. They attracted many investors from their church, the Mount Gilead Full Gospel International Ministries.

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• The government alleges that of the $18.4 million the Underwoods took in from April 2007 through Dec. 13, 2007, promising to invest in distressed properties, about $13.4 million was used to pay back investors while about $2 million was used in real estate deals. Some of the money was used by the Underwoods to help pay their own mortgage and to make payments on expensive cars.

For more, see Chesterfield couple plead guilty in Ponzi scheme.