Loan Officer and Borrower Charged in Mortgage Fraud Case

RALEIGH—United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that two more individuals have been charged in a mortgage fraud case that incurred losses of over $1 million. The case against MARK DAVID WEBB was unsealed yesterday at a hearing in which he pled guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud. WEBB was charged by criminal information on August 30, 2010.

On August 16, 2011, ROBERT KEITH PARKER pled guilty to making false statements to influence a financial institution in connection with a loan. PARKER was charged by criminal information on July 27, 2011.

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% 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.

WEBB faces up to 30 years’ imprisonment at sentencing, which is set for October, 2011. PARKER also faces up to 30 years’ imprisonment at sentencing, which is set for the November 14, 2011, term of court. Orander’s sentencing is set for the October 3, 2011, term of court.

The case was handled by this office’s Mortgage Fraud Task Force with the investigation being conducted by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney William M. Gilmore represented the government.