Lee County Attorney Pleads Guilty to Mortgage Fraud Scheme
| U.S. Attorney’s Office March 23, 2012 |
MONTGOMERY—On March 22, 2012, James Boyd Douglas, Jr., who previously practiced law in Lee County, Alabama, pled guilty to engaging in a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme, announced the United States Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Alabama.
Between January 2005 and September 23, 2011, Douglas handled numerous real estate closings and real estate refinancing transactions on behalf of his clients. As part of the real estate closings, Douglas received the proceeds of new mortgage loans. Douglas was supposed to use the proceeds from new mortgage loans to repay the old mortgage loans on the properties that were being sold or refinanced. But instead of using that money to repay the old loans, Douglas embezzled more than $2,000,000 from his clients’ real estate closings over approximately six years.
Douglas’ sentencing hearing will be scheduled for a date later this spring before U.S. District Judge Mark E. Fuller. Douglas faces a possible sentence of up to 20 years in jail.
The investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jared Morris.