Indiana Man Sentenced to 30 Months for Mortgage Fraud

An Indianapolis man was sentenced to 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for participating in a large city-based mortgage fraud scheme. According to Timothy M. Morrison, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, Jerry J. Jaquess admitted that, through his real estate company Homevestors LLC, he and others entered into contracts to purchase 186 duplexes in the Windsor Village neighborhood on the east side of Indianapolis. On each of the properties, Jaquess entered into a land contract immediately preceding the closing showing that Homevestors was purchasing the property for $50,000. Prior to finalizing the purchase agreements, Jaquess caused three of the Windsor Village properties to be listed on a Multiple Listing Service showing a list price of $120,000. Jaquess did not own the properties at the time they were listed. A few days after these properties closed, Jaquess and his associates were responsible for these three sales at $120,000 apiece to be placed on the MLS, showing these properties as comparables on appraisals to be prepared for all of the remaining Windsor Village properties, thus making it appear that each of those properties were worth $120,000. Jaquess attended the closings as the seller and took the downpayment checks to the closings. He signed the loan closing documents on behalf of Homevestors, including false HUD-1 Settlement Statements. After closing, Jaquess received checks to Homevestors for the amount of the fraudulent loan proceeds. In addition to the prison time, Chief Judge David F. Hamilton ordered Jaquess to pay more than $820,000 in restitution.