Santa Monica Man Sentenced In Beachfront Property Scheme

SANTA MONICA, CA — A Santa Monica man was sentenced Friday to 9 1/2 years behind bars for using two multimillion-dollar waterfront homes in Florida to get $1.7 million in mortgage loans.

George French Jones Jr., 50, was also ordered by a federal judge in Miami to pay more than $1.8 million in restitution following his 116-month federal prison term, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Early last year, Jones found two waterfront homes in Fort Lauderdale which he fraudulently pledged as collateral in order to obtain mortgage loans from a private lender, according to federal prosecutors.

The two homes were owned by corporate entities that Jones had no affiliation with and which were, in fact, owned by independent third parties. As part of the scheme, Jones created phony identification documents and email addresses in order to impersonate officers of the corporate owners of the two properties, prosecutors said.

Jones then submitted bogus loan applications and other documents to the private lender in which he pretended to be the owners of the luxury homes, defrauding the lender out of about $1.7 million, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Jones pleaded guilty to mail fraud and identity theft charges.

City News Service