FLORENCE, SC—United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated today that Shayne Harrison Smith, age 47, of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina has entered a guilty plea in federal court in Florence, to Wire Fraud, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343. United States District Judge R. Bryan Harwell of Florence accepted the guilty plea and will impose sentence after he has reviewed the presentence report which will be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office.

Information presented at the change of plea hearing established that Mr. Smith was involved in a “mortgage rescue scheme.” He convinced distressed home owners that he could negotiate better terms of repayment with their lenders. Mr. Smith required the victims to pay him fees which he used for his own benefit. He encouraged some of the home owners to cease communicating with their lenders and stop making payments to the lenders, because he would take care of everything. Mr. Smith never successfully renegotiated any of the mortgages.

Mr. Nettles stated the maximum penalty for Wire Fraud is imprisonment for 30 years and/or a fine of $1,000,000.

The case was investigated by agents of the F.B.I. Assistant United States Attorney John C. Potterfield of the Florence is prosecuting the case.