Leesville Woman Sentenced for Mortgage Fraud

Contact Person: Winston Holliday (803) 929-3079

Columbia, South Carolina---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated that Darlene Henderson, age 60, of Leesville, South Carolina, pled guilty and was sentenced today in federal court in South Carolina, for Wire Fraud, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343, in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme. United States District Judge Joseph F. Anderson, Jr., of Columbia sentenced Henderson to eight months of home confinement, to be followed by five years of probation. Henderson also was ordered to pay almost $130,000 in restitution to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Evidence presented at the hearing established that between November 2011 and December 2013, Henderson assisted Michael Yant, who previously pled guilty to the same scheme and was sentenced to five months incarceration, commit mortgage fraud on a number of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans. Specifically, Yant engaged in a prohibited rent-to-own scheme, and Henderson used her position at the bank to approve these loans, despite suspicious borrower information being relayed to her. A number of these loans are now delinquent or in default.

The case was investigated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of the Inspector General, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Winston Holliday of the Columbia office prosecuted the case.

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