Goldsboro Man Receives Prison Sentence for Fraud
| U.S. Attorney’s Office November 23, 2011 |
RALEIGH—United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court yesterday Chief United State District Judge James C. Dever III, sentenced ROBERT KEITH PARKER, 46, of Goldsboro, North Carolina, to three months’ imprisonment followed by five years’ supervised release. The court also imposed restitution in the amount of $100,000.
A Criminal Information was filed on July 27, 2011, charging PARKER with making false statements to influence a financial institution in connection with a loan. On August 15, 2011, PARKER pled to the charge.
The investigation arose out of the prior prosecution of closing attorney William Orander and loan officer Mark Webb. Webb conspired with now disbarred attorney William Devaughn Orander, III, to defraud Southern Bank and Trust and New Century Bank, where Webb was employed. Through a carefully orchestrated closing process, Webb and Orander were able to deceive the banks into funding home and land transactions at premium refinancing terms by creating two sets of HUD-1 documents with two simultaneous closings instead of one. The first closing appeared as a cash transaction between the seller and buyer. Another closing was simultaneously conducted whereby the bank issued a loan to the buyer under the auspices of a refinance. Orander used his trust account to disguise the flow of funds from buyer to seller. This allowed buyers to purchase a home and leave the closing table with title to the property and as much as 50 percent over the purchase price in cash.
PARKER was a client of Webb and Orander who had loans closed using the “double HUD” method. On one loan PARKER used his wife as a straw borrower to obtain loan proceeds for his own ends. PARKER and Webb falsified income tax returns to qualify PARKER’s wife for the loan. Webb then placed the false returns into Southern Bank’s files and had the loan approved based upon them.
Investigation of this case was conducted by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney William Gilmore served as prosecutor for the government.