Former Needham Real Estate Attorney Sentenced for Mortgage Fraud

BOSTON—A former attorney who operated a real estate practice in Needham was sentenced today for his role in a fraudulent mortgage scheme.

Marc D. Foley, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to 72 months in prison, to be followed by 36 months of supervised release. In September 2012, Foley was convicted by a jury of 33 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering.

In December 2006 and January 2007, Foley participated in a scheme to defraud six mortgage lenders in connection with $4.9 million in real estate loans for the purchases of 24 condominium units in Dorchester. When Foley and an associate acting under his direction closed the loans, documents sent to the mortgage lenders falsely represented that funds ranging from $9,300 to $39,000 had been collected at the closings from the borrowers, when in fact the borrowers made no down payments and paid no funds at the closings. Furthermore, Foley entered into an undisclosed agreement with the seller to subtract from the seller’s proceeds all the funds that were reported to the lenders as coming from the borrowers. Foley also used various other means to conceal from the lenders that the borrowers had not provided funds for the purchases.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Boston Field Division; and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Victor A. Wild of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit and Veronica M. Lei of Ortiz’s Asset Forfeiture Unit.