Loan Officer Gets 37 Months For Role In Maryland Foreclosure Rescue Equity Stripping Scam Peddling Bogus Sale Leaseback Deals To Desperate Homeowners

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Maryland):

• U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Winston Thomas, age 43, of New Carrollton, Maryland today to 37 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for failure to file federal tax returns and for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a scheme in which he and his conspirators offered to help financially vulnerable individuals save their homes from foreclosure, and instead defrauded homeowners and mortgage lenders, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

Thomas was one of the participants in the foreclosure rescue, equity stripping conspiracy headed by Michael K. Lewis, and included Cheryl Brooke and Earnest Lewis.(1)

• [Michael K.] Lewis and Thomas, a senior loan officer with a mortgage lender, told the homeowners that the “good credit” of Earnest Lewis would be used to temporarily refinance their homes, that they had to sign their homes over to Earnest Lewis and that they could repurchase the homes in roughly one year, or once they regained their financial footing. During the interim, they could remain in their homes only by paying inflated “rent” and fees, which payments were directly debited from their bank accounts to an account belonging to co-conspirator Cheryl Brooke’s company “In the House Technologies.” Brooke then made payments to Earnest Lewis and Thomas, with the remaining funds being used by Michael K. Lewis and Brooke for their personal benefit.

For the entire press release, see Senior Loan Officer Sentenced in Mortgage Fraud Scheme That Targeted Victims Through Local TV Ads.

(1) For an earlier press release on the sentencing of both Lewis brothers, see Leader of Mortgage Fraud Scheme Sentenced to 6 ½ Years in Prison - Targeted Victims with TV Ads.