Bank Employee Admits to Falsifying Documents to Obtain Over $1.2 Million in Home Mortgage Loans
Caused Loss of Over $850,000 to Banks

GREENBELT, MD—Lynzi Malissa Richardson, age 31, of Glenn Dale, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with making false statements to obtain three home mortgages within a three-month period.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Harvey Witherspoon of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System - Office of Inspector General; and Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to Richardson’s plea agreement and court documents, between June and September 2007, Richardson, Melva Massey, her husband D’Von Massey, and others submitted mortgage applications for three properties in Washington, D.C. to different banks. Richardson submitted the loan applications with the following fraudulent documents: a rental lease created by Richardson which purported to show that the Masseys had substantial rental income; a cashier’s check fraudulently altered by Richardson to show that the Masseys were the payees, when in fact they were not; and a verification of deposit purporting to show that the Masseys had over $50,000 in deposits, when in fact no such account existed. Richardson used her employment at a bank to general some of the false documents. The three banks approved the mortgage loans in the total amount of $1,205,267.

Each of the three properties went into foreclosure or short sale, resulting in a total loss to the banks of $859,190.

Richardson faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. scheduled her sentencing for January 12, 2011 at 9:30 a.m.

Melva Massey, age 29, and D’Von Massey, age 37, both of Waldorf, Maryland, previously pleaded guilty to the conspiracy and are scheduled to be sentenced on December 15, 2010 and January 6, 2011, respectively.

The Maryland Mortgage Fraud Task Force was established to unify the agencies that regulate and investigate mortgage fraud and promote the early detection, identification, prevention, and prosecution of mortgage fraud schemes. This case, as well as other cases brought by members of the Task Force, demonstrates the commitment of law enforcement agencies to protect consumers from fraud and promote the integrity of the credit markets. Information about mortgage fraud prosecutions is available http://www.justice.gov/usao/md/priorities.html.

This law enforcement action is part of President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System - Office of Inspector General and the FBI for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein praised Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan C. Su and Adam K. Ake, who are prosecuting the case.