Greenleaf co-owner sentenced to jail for fraud scheme

A former co-owner of Greenleaf Cos. was sentenced yesterday to prison and handed a hefty restitution charge for his role in a bank fraud conspiracy as part of a multimillion-dollar mortgage investment scheme.

U.S. District Judge Greg Kays delivered a sentence of four years in federal prison without parole to Eric Gagnepain, 41, of Nixa. Gagnepain also was ordered to pay $2.9 million in restitution, according to a news release from the office of Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Gagnepain - who co-owned and operated Greenleaf Cos. and its subsidiaries with Scott Dasal, 47, of Republic, from 2006 through May 2008 - pleaded guilty Jan. 9 to conspiracy to commit bank fraud. During that time, Greenleaf sponsored real estate investment seminars designed to recruit potential investors to apply for mortgage loans on the construction and sale of southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas homes.

In his guilty plea, Gagnepain admitted he aided and abetted others in creating and submitting fraudulent mortgage loan documents, which included false statements regarding the true source of funding for the homes at the time of closing. He also fraudulently omitted the payments obtained from the sale of the real estate properties, according to the release.

For his role in the scheme, Gagnepain received more than $1 million in gross receipts. Losses resulting from the bank fraud conspiracy were between $2.5 million and $7 million.

Dasal was sentenced in November to three years in prison and a restitution order of $2.9 million for his role in aiding and abetting bank fraud, according to the release.[[In-content Ad]]