Oxon Hill Woman Pleads Guilty in Mortgage Fraud Schemes

Oxon Hill Woman Pleads Guilty in Mortgage Fraud Schemes

Baltimore, Maryland – Rhonda Scott, age 52, of Oxon Hill, Maryland, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar to conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with two separate mortgage fraud schemes which resulted in losses of over $2,500,000.

According to her plea, beginning in 2008, Scott agreed to participate in several fraudulent real estate transactions that settled at M&R Title, Inc., and Sanford Title Services LLC. The fraudulent transactions at each title company were part of different conspiracies, both of which Scott joined. In both schemes, Scott facilitated deals between her co-conspirators, identified and recruited individuals that could be parties to the real estate transactions generating proceeds for the co-conspirators, received proceeds of the fraudulent transactions through a shell company designed to disguise her receipt of the funds, sent money to co-conspirators and identified mortgage transactions that the co-conspirators could use to enrich themselves.

As part of the M&R Title conspiracy, the co-conspirators deceived buyers, sellers and lenders to make it appear to sellers that they were selling their property at a low price, and to buyers and lenders that the property was being sold at a higher price. The co-conspirators created paperwork for two different sales of the property at the same time. The first sale was fraudulent because it was backdated, the buyer was planning to immediately flip the property in a subsequent sale and the settlement statement listed a fake hard money loan. The second sale involved a significantly increased sales price and the settlement statement showed a significant sum being disbursed to the hard money lender as a payoff of an existing lien, but in reality those funds would be used for improper disbursements to the co-conspirators.

With respect to the Sanford Title conspiracy, improper disbursements were made from the title company to Scott and others. The conspirators engaged in many fraudulent techniques, including: short sales in which the property would be sold for a higher price than the seller was aware of; sales of properties not owned by the seller including properties Scott purported to own but did not own at the time of settlement; real estate transactions in which there were multiple sales of the same property at the same time; the seller and/or buyer were shown different settlement statements and the conspirators used the difference between the figures in the two statements to enrich themselves; and Sanford Title did not disburse money that should have been paid to lien holders and instead diverted a portion of those funds to co-conspirators.

Both of the M&R Title and Sanford Title fraud schemes involved at least 25 victims, including lenders, sellers and buyers of real estate, title insurance companies and lien holders. The reasonably foreseeable loss associated with Scott’s conduct is at least $2.5 million. Scott will be required to forfeit at least $2,500,000 as part of her sentence.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge David Beach of the United States Secret Service – Washington Field Office; Inspector General Jon T. Rymer of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; Special Agent in Charge Joe Clarke of the Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General – Office of Investigations; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Special Agent in Charge Gene E. Morrison, Washington Field Office, U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General; Howard County Police Chief William McMahon; Acting Special Agent in Charge Lisa Quinn of the United States Secret Service – Baltimore Field Office; and Howard County State’s Attorney Dario Broccolino.

Rhonda Scott faces a maximum of 30 years in prison for conspiring to commit wire fraud. She will be sentenced at a later date.