Five Defendants Indicted in Federal Mortgage Fraud Cases
All Five Defendants Are Mortgage and Real Estate Industry Insiders

DES MOINES, IA—United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt announced today that five people have been indicted in mortgage fraud cases by the United States Grand Jury for the Southern District of Iowa.

One of the indictments returned by the grand jury charges Jason Kibbee, age 37, of Kellogg, Iowa, with one count of wire fraud and one count of making a false statement to a financial institution. The Indictment alleges that Kibbee made false statements, used a disabled relative as a straw buyer, and forged documents in connection with a real estate transaction that he said would help a homeowner whose house was in foreclosure. Kibbee is also accused of keeping money paid by the homeowner instead of applying it to the mortgage. The indictment alleges that Kibbee was an employee of a mortgage brokerage at the time of the offenses and also owned a company that purportedly helped distressed borrowers with their mortgage loans.

The other indictment charges conspiracy to commit wire fraud against Lane Anderson, age 37, of Altoona, Iowa; David Mable, age 46, of Urbandale, Iowa; Shannon Flickinger, age 42, of Earlham, Iowa; and Paul Kramer, age 41, of Granger, Iowa. The four defendants are accused of conspiring to obtain at least 13 mortgage loans through the use of false statements, straw buyers, and other false and fraudulent pretenses. The indictment alleges that Kramer was the principal of a mortgage company at the time of the alleged offense, while the other three defendants owned and operated a real estate development company.

Klinefeldt said the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the alleged offenses and will continue to assist in the prosecution of the cases. He said state investigators, including the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and the Iowa Division of Banking, laid the groundwork for the federal cases through their early investigative efforts. “These indictments are a product of the combined state and federal efforts to address mortgage fraud,” he said. “We look forward to continuing to work with state authorities in appropriate circumstances to identify, investigate, and prosecute mortgage fraud cases.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Iowa Attorney General continue to work with state and federal law enforcement agencies to combat mortgage fraud through the Iowa Mortgage Fraud Working Group that was announced in December 2010.

These cases will be scheduled for trial once the defendants make their first appearances in federal court. Kibbee, Anderson, Flickinger, and Kramer are scheduled to appear before United States Magistrate Judge Ross A. Walters on September 15, 2011, at 2:00 p.m., at the United States Courthouse in Des Moines. Mable is scheduled to make his first appearance before Judge Walters on September 28, 2011, at 2:00 p.m.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. Wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and making a false statement to a financial institution are each punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 30 years and a fine of up to $1 million.