Mortgage Broker Sentenced in Mortgage Fraud Investigation

MADISON, WI—John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Becky Lynn Ring, formerly known as Becky Lynn Stoltenberg, 38, Madison, Wisconsin, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb to 12 months’ probation and ordered to pay $336,100 in restitution for her role in a mortgage fraud scheme.

Stoltenberg was the former owner of JC Mortgage in Madison. She devised a scheme to obtain a residential loan for a client by submitting false documentation to the lender. Stoltenberg was assisted by Edwin P. Gray, an accountant working in Oregon, Wisconsin, who falsified the client’s income on a W-2 form, which allowed the client to qualify for a loan that he otherwise would not have obtained. Gray pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud on August 12, 2012, and was sentenced to three years’ probation on October 11, 2012.

In sentencing Ring, Judge Crabb reduced her sentence from a possible imprisonment range of 27 to 33 months based in part on her cooperation in an ongoing investigation, and noted the serious nature of her crime, and the need to deter others similarly situated from engaging in criminal conduct. Ring paid the remaining restitution owed of $335,400 prior to sentencing. Gray had paid $700 towards restitution since his sentencing.

This case is part of President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch and, with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.

The charge in this case are the result of an investigation conducted by the Madison Resident Agency of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter M. Jarosz.