Loan Officer Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for His Role in Mortgage Fraud Scheme

JACKSONVILLE, FL—U.S. Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces that U.S. District Judge Harvey Schlesinger late yesterday sentenced Joseph Ulysses Grant, IV (31, Jacksonville) to 30 months in federal prison for committing wire fraud.

On May 12, 2011, Grant was found guilty by a jury of two counts of wire fraud.

According to court documents and evidence at trial, Grant operated a business in Jacksonville known as “Joe-Can-Do-It.net” as well as being employed as a senior loan officer for a mortgage lender. Grant solicited individuals to purchase houses he brokered despite not being a licensed real estate agent. He promised those individuals that he could obtain one hundred percent financing if they purchased one of the houses he had listed. After the individuals submitted financial information to Grant, he prepared residential loan applications that falsely stated or inflated the individuals financial information. Grant submitted the falsified information to the lenders. The loans applied for were not for one hundred percent financed loans. Grant inflated the sales prices of the houses by the approximate amount of the needed down payment, thereby causing the whole transaction to be financed. He or others would then provide the money needed for the down payment to the buyer. The settlement statement, as well as other documents submitted to the lenders by Grant, would falsely indicate that the down payment was coming from the buyer. In reality, the person that had advanced the down payment money recovered that money at or after the transaction closed.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State of Florida, Office of Financial Regulation, and the State of Florida, Department of Financial Services. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John Guard.