Sarasota Man Sentenced to Five Years in Federal Prison for Sophisticated Mortgage Fraud Scheme

TAMPA—U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday today sentenced Arthur R. Seaborne (70, Sarasota) to five years in federal prison for conspiring to commit bank fraud. In addition, Seaborne was ordered to forfeit $4,269,886.55 in proceeds from the offense. The matter of restitution will be addressed at a later date. Seaborne pleaded guilty on November 6, 2012.

According to court documents and information presented in court, from as early as March 2003 through July 2008, Seaborne and others conspired to commit bank fraud. Throughout that time, Seaborne used several corporate entities to perpetuate the fraud scheme, including Southeast Capital Advisors LLC. Through this entity, Seaborne marketed a “no money down” residential purchase program that operated by making loans to Seaborne’s clients, so that those clients could make down payments in connection with their purchases of residential properties.

Thereafter, Seaborne and his co-conspirators prepared and submitted mortgage loan applications to lenders for these same clients. The applications were fraudulent in that they omitted the fact that the clients’ down payments had been loaned to them. Further, the applications usually overstated the clients’ assets and understated their liabilities. Some loan applications also included the fraudulent misrepresentation that the clients intended to make the properties their primary residences, when in fact they were investment properties. Over the course of the fraud scheme, some of the loans on the residential properties went into default. Although the total loss amount has not yet been definitively determined, the losses incurred by the lenders amount to approximately $4 million.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Rachelle DesVaux Bedke and Joseph W. Swanson.