A city man was sentenced to more than five years in jail for his role in a $40 million mortgage fraud, US Attorney Paul Fishman announced Thursday.
William Brown, 60, was handed a sentence of 66 months in Camden federal court after previously pleading guilty to fraud and money laundering charges.
Brown’s associates filed phony mortgage applications containing inflated income and asset information on behalf of “straw buyers” recruited by Brown. The scheme involved beachfront property in Wildwood Crest, homes facing foreclosure elsewhere in the state as well as vacation property in Georgia and South Carolina.
After the mortgages were approved, Brown and his co-conspirators kept a portion of the funds and also shared them with the straw buyers. Brown, who netted about $96,000 from the scam, must pay $9.3 million in restitution and also faces three years of supervised release.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
