U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz has sentenced Timothy Reed of Beltsville, Md. to 51 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for mail fraud arising from the fraudulent purchase of 25 properties in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia using false mortgage and settlement documents. Judge Motz also ordered that Reed pay $4,196,967 in restitution.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Postal Inspector in Charge Daniel S. Cortez of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division; Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy and his Economic Crimes Unit; and Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Irvine of the United States Secret Service - Washington Field Office.
According to Reed’s plea agreement, Reed and others paid over 15 straw purchasers $10,000 per property to purchase houses for Reed and others. Reed created false mortgage and settlement documents, many of which misrepresented the straw purchasers’ income and assets. Reed and others also created false invoices to claim that their company, Brotherly Investment Group, performed “renovations” on some of the properties. Using these false invoices, Reed and others were “repaid” at closing for the purported renovations. Reed was an organizer and leader in this scheme. From 2006 to 2008, Reed and others received approximately $3,830,418 in fraudulent funds as part of this scheme. Many of the purchased properties have been foreclosed upon.
The Maryland Mortgage Fraud Task Force was established to unify the agencies that regulate and investigate mortgage fraud and promote the early detection, identification, prevention and prosecution of mortgage fraud schemes. This case, as well as other cases brought by members of the Task Force, demonstrates the commitment of law enforcement agencies to protect consumers from fraud and promote the integrity of the credit markets.
For more information, visit http://baltimore.fbi.gov.
