Springfield Man Sentenced for $1.2 Million Mortgage Fraud

SPRINGFIELD, MO—David M. Ketchmark, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Springfield, Missouri man has been sentenced in federal court for mortgage fraud.

Richard B. Gillette, 30, of Springfield, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr on Thursday, November 15, 2012, to two years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Gillette to pay $1,292,256 in restitution.

On May 23, 2012, Gillette pleaded guilty to money laundering, which was related to a mortgage fraud scheme. By pleading guilty, Gillette admitted that he engaged in monetary transactions involving funds that were derived from criminal activity.

Gillette obtained two loans totaling $1,125,000 from Homecomings Financial to refinance existing loans on his residence in May 2006. In the loan applications, Gillette claimed that his monthly income was $35,000; in reality, it was substantially less than that amount.

After the existing lenders with loans secured by Gillette’s residence were paid, the remaining $282,530 in loan proceeds was distributed to Gillette and deposited in his bank account. According to court documents, those proceeds were used to purchase, among other things, a $142,000 Lamborghini motor vehicle.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation and the FBI.