Jury Finds MTSU Professor Guilty of Bank and Wire Fraud

NASHVILLE, TN—Edward M. Yarbrough, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee and My Harrison, Special Agent in Charge, Memphis Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that yesterday a jury convicted Pamela Gail Holder of two counts of wire fraud and two counts of bank fraud. The guilty verdict followed a one-week trial before U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger.

Dr. Holder, a professor of nursing at Middle Tennessee State University and the former coordinator of the statewide Tennessee Board of Regents On-Line Degree Program, and her husband, Fred “Fat Man” Holder were originally charged in a four-count indictment in June 2008. (Fred Holder died in 2008). At trial, the jury heard evidence that Dr. Holder and others helped orchestrate a multi-million-dollar mortgage-fraud scheme. The scheme involved a “straw buyer” with a good credit score who was deceived by Dr. Holder into securing $2.4 million in loans for the purchase of a $1.5 million dollar home in Hendersonville, Tennessee. The jury heard evidence that, in the months leading up to the purchase, Dr. Holder helped create documents that greatly inflated the straw buyer’s income and falsely claimed that the straw buyer was President of “Team Fat Man” – an automotive sales business operated by Dr. Holder’s deceased husband. Through those documents and other fraudulent misrepresentations, Dr. Holder was able to qualify the straw buyer for large loans obtained at Bank of Nashville, Countrywide Home Loans, and First Tennessee Bank that far-exceeded what the straw buyer could afford. After the purchase of the lavish home, Dr. Holder and her husband occupied the property and spent the excess loan funds on various purchases, including several pieces of expensive jewelry. When the straw buyer was unable to make the approximately $10,000 monthly mortgage payments, the mortgage defaulted and the property was foreclosed upon.

“Mortgage fraud is a crime that has many victims – the defrauded straw buyer who loses his money or good credit; the banks that suffer significant losses; and members of the public who indirectly pay for the abuses of the lending process,” said U.S. Attorney Ed Yarbrough. “As such, it’s gratifying to see a jury hold another mortgage-fraud defendant accountable for her criminal actions.”

After the guilty verdict, Judge Trauger scheduled the sentencing hearing in the case for July 10, 2009. Dr. Holder faces up to 30 years of imprisonment for each of the two counts of bank fraud and 20 years of imprisonment for each of the two counts of wire fraud.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ty E. Howard of the Middle District of Tennessee and Trial Attorney Peter A. Frandsen of the U.S. Department of Justice Fraud Section represented the United States.