The husband of an Ozark woman who pleaded guilty last month to her role in an alleged mortgage fraud scheme has followed suit, court records show.
At a Monday hearing at the federal courthouse in Springfield, Scott Allen Kassebaum, 43, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to defraud lenders between March 2006 and July 2006, according to his plea agreement. Kassebaum and his wife, Cheryl, were among six individuals indicted in November for mortgage fraud. Cheryl Kassebaum pleaded guilty last month.
Federal prosecutors said the scheme involved obtaining mortgage loans for home purchases based on false loan applications, and giving a significant portion of the loan proceeds to the homebuyers without the lender's knowledge and after closing.
The scheme involved seven houses with mortgages ranging from about $200,000 to more than $400,000. Loans were obtained from First Magnus, Homecomings Financial and Countrywide Financial, according to the plea agreement, and loan proceeds returned to borrowers ranged from about $30,000 to nearly $100,000. Some borrowers later defaulted on the loans, prompting lenders to foreclose on the homes.
Scott Kassebaum's part in the conspiracy was to act as a purchaser/borrower - also known as a "straw buyer" - and to execute loan applications he knew were false. He also facilitated the return of a significant portion of the loan proceeds to himself and other borrowers without the lender's knowledge, according to the plea agreement. Those proceeds were returned outside of closing and routed through Master Marketing Consultants and then through Metro Consulting Group.
In addition to conspiracy, Kassebaum pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. In all, Kassebaum received more than $209,000 in loan proceeds by submitting false applications, according to the plea agreement.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas C. Bunch and was investigated by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation.
Last year's indictment - the result of an ongoing investigation stretching more than three years - also named Randall Lee Hall, former branch manager for Choice Mortgage; Springfield resident Shanda Lynn Moore; and Steven Ray Spencer, of Carl Junction. Davis, Spencer and Moore were indicted for alleged involvement in a separate scheme from January 2006 to February 2007, while Spencer and Hall were indicted for a similar conspiracy that allegedly occurred from November 2005 to October 2006. In total, the trio of conspiracies involved 29 homes in Greene and Christian counties.
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