Sobbing Sale Leaseback Peddler Falls Short In Failed Attempt To Bawl Her Way Out Of Four Years In Federal Prison For Running Equity Stripping Racket

In Norfolk, Virginia, The Virginian Pilot reports:

• Despite tearful pleas for leniency, a Chesapeake woman who orchestrated a mortgage fraud scheme received four years in prison for the crime. "My apology and expression of repentance is long overdue," Shanita Lacy told U.S. District Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr. "Today I offer no excuses for my actions. I know what I did was wrong. I know that I messed up the lives of so many others."
• Morgan said her apologies came too late, sentencing Lacy to near the top end of federal sentencing guidelines. "Your apology would have been better presented to victims before today," Morgan told her.
• Lacy operated Clean Slate Financial Services in 2007 and 2008, when she defrauded banks and homeowners of $1.5 million. Lacy claimed to repair distressed homeowners' credit by refinancing their homes but instead sold the homes to straw buyers and lied to banks to obtain new, larger mortgages. She then paid off the old mortgages and kept the difference for herself.
• As the real estate market collapsed, the loans went into default and the homeowners lost their properties. Morgan also ordered Lacy to repay $884,000 - the amount the banks and eight homeowners lost because of foreclosures. Officials said they have recovered nothing from Lacy. Her own home in Chesapeake, assessed at more than $500,000, is in foreclosure.(1)

Source: Chesapeake woman gets 4 years in mortgage scam.

Go here for links to other posts on Criminal Prosecutions Of Sale Leaseback Peddlers In Equity Stripping Foreclosure Rescue Deals.

(1) For earlier stories on Shanita Lacy, see:

• Norfolk Feds Score Guilty Plea From Foreclosure Rescue Operator Involving Sale Leaseback Equity Stripping Ripoffs,
• Alleged Hampton Roads Equity Stripping Scam Operation Leaves Homeowners Out On The Street, Straw Buyers Holding The Bag.