Colorado man indicted on mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering

About 65 miles north of Colorado Springs, a man has been indicted by a federal grand jury on wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering charges.

The Denver grand jury indicted a Littleton man, 55; a court date for him is scheduled for next week.

According to court documents, the man was president of a company that built and designed homes in the Denver metropolitan area. Golden Design Group also provided office space for Mortgages LLC, which provided mortgages for Golden Design houses the suspect sold.

The suspect also reportedly owned and ran two other companies involved in the alleged fraud: Cambridge Real Estate Consulting, LLC, and Chateau Real Estate Investments, LLC.

Prosecutors allege the man used his companies between the beginning of 2005 and July 31 of 2008 to defraud mortgage lenders. Buyers of Golden Design houses would allegedly receive, as a result of transactions the suspect constructed, large amounts of lender money at the time of the closing on the houses — without the knowledge of the lenders.

He did this, prosecutors say, by disbursing funds to limited liability corporations under his control, getting buyers to sign false warranty waivers, having Golden Design issue checks to the buyers and so on. The amounts were typically between $85,000 and $130,000 authorities claim.

The suspect is also accused of falsifying applications for first and second mortgages, overstating the buyers’ incomes and understating their financial liabilities. He also allegedly misrepresented to lenders the intent of buyers to live in the houses they were purchasing.

Source: CBS Denver, “Littleton Man Indicted For Mail Fraud, Money Laundering,” May 24, 2012