Loan Officer Pleads Guilty to Stealing Data on Reverse Mortgages in Wire Fraud Scheme
| U.S. Attorney’s Office July 06, 2009 |
A Royal Oak, Michigan resident pleaded guilty today on charges of wire fraud, United States Attorney Terrence Berg announced.
United States Attorney Berg was joined in the announcement by Andrew G. Arena, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Bruce Jarrard, 37, entered the guilty plea in United States District Court before Judge George Carman Steeh.
The information presented to the Court at the time of the plea established that in 2008, Jarrard, while a Senior Loan Officer at World Alliance Financial Corp. ("WAF") in Troy, MI, stole its trade secrets and intellectual property. Jarrard stole WAF's customer leads and related data regarding potential customers for reverse mortgages. A reverse mortgage is a financial transaction where a real estate owner pledges her real estate and its equity to a company such as WAF in exchange for WAF's payment of money to the real estate owner over a period of time; when the real estate owner vacates the property (by death or moving), WAF would become the real estate owner. WAF's customer leads and related data were trade secrets. Jarrard worked at WAF's Lender Lead Solutions unit in Troy, and had access to its trade secrets and intellectual property. Jarrard stole the trade secrets shortly before he left work at WAF, and did so for his financial benefit.
United States Attorney Terrence Berg said, "Stealing confidential corporate data can be a very serious federal offense. Employees need to realize that confidential corporate information is just like property—if you steal it in order to harm your employee, you can be prosecuted. In today’s economy, a company’s trade secrets can be among its most valuable assets.”
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Jarrard faces up to 20 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.
A sentencing hearing was set by Judge Steeh for November 2, 2009.
The investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Varner.