Ex-Cape Cod Attorney, Wife Plead Guilty To Fraud Charges

HYANNIS PORT, MA — A former Hyannis Port real estate attorney and his wife pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with various mortgage fraud schemes.

Barry Wayne Plunkett Jr., 61, and Nancy Plunkett, 56, ran the Plunkett Law Firm, with Barry as the owner and Nancy as the office assistant and paralegal. Prior to Plunkett's disbarment in October 2017, the pair engaged in several bank fraud schemes, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

This included defrauding six mortgage lenders and 14 homeowners for whom the firm handled the closings for new mortgage loans to refinance residential properties, federal authorities said.

The scheme, which ran from September 2012 to July 2016, involved telling the mortgage lenders that pre-existing mortgages were paid off from the new loan proceeds. In reality, the couple intentionally failed to pay off the prior liens and instead converted more than $900,000 in payoff funds for themselves, the USAO said.

In another scheme, conducted between April 2015 and March 2018, the Plunketts fraudulently used various names, entities and false documents to obtain three successive mortgage loans on their home in Hyannis Port in amounts of $412,000, $470,000 and $1.2 million, federal authorities said.

As collateral, the couple put up a property in Hyannis Port that was held in a family trust, for which Barry Plunkett Jr. was one of three beneficiaries. The Plunketts gave false documents to the lenders, including false title reports and other records to falsely represent that the property was free and clear of existing mortgage liens and forged documents in the names of other people, the USAO said.

The pair also claimed Nancy Plunkett was a single woman from Wellesley who was purchasing the property in her maiden name as a business investment; however, the couple had been married since 2014 and the property was their primary residence, federal authorities said.

The Plunketts pleaded guilty to five counts of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Barry Plunkett also pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion.

Sentencing has been scheduled for June 10.