South Carolina Man Gets 63 Months After Pleading Guilty To Running Bogus Loan Modification Racket That Fleeced Over $2.2 Million From Financially Distressed Homeowners

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Florence, South Carolina):

• Acting United States Attorney Beth Drake stated that Shayne Harrison Smith, of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was sentenced to 63 months imprisonment in federal court. In July of 2015, Smith pled guilty to Wire Fraud, [...].
  
  After Smith completes the term of imprisonment, he will be on federal supervised release for 5 years. Smith was also ordered to pay $2,213,307.99 in restitution to the victims in his case. United States District Judge R. Bryan Harwell, of Florence, imposed the sentence.
  
  Information presented at an earlier hearing established that Mr. Smith was involved in a "mortgage rescue scheme." He convinced distressed home owners that he could negotiate better terms of repayment with their lenders. Mr. Smith required the victims to pay him fees which he used for his own benefit. He encouraged some of the home owners to cease communicating with their lenders and stop making payments to the lenders, because he would take care of everything. Mr. Smith never successfully renegotiated any of the mortgages.

Source: Myrtle Beach Man Sentenced on Wire Fraud Charge.