Stockton Loan Officer Mark F. Friend Sentenced in $1.8M Mortgage Scam

Mark F. Friend, 62, of Stockton, is headed to federal prison for his role in a brazen mortgage fraud scheme that bled banks of nearly $1.9 million. Friend was sentenced today to two years and four months behind bars and ordered to pay $1,889,379 in restitution after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. handed down the sentence in Sacramento, holding Friend accountable for a short but destructive run of deception between September 2006 and March 2007. At the time, Friend worked for National City Mortgage, a division of National City Bank, where he exploited his position to grease the wheels of a rigged lending machine.

Court records show Friend didn’t just cut corners — he forged entire applications. He submitted false loan documents, inflated borrower incomes, and even fronted down payments for buyers who had no money. Those payments were quietly repaid out of escrow once the loans went through, making the transactions look legitimate on paper. In reality, they were house of cards built on lies.

The fallout was swift and severe. Borrowers, many of whom were in on the scam, stopped making payments almost immediately. The resulting defaults hammered National City Bank and other financial entities, which collectively lost $1,889,379. The scheme unraveled over time, triggering a federal investigation that ultimately traced the fraud back to Friend.

Friend will self-surrender and begin serving his 28-month sentence on January 13, 2017. Judge Burrell’s decision reflects the seriousness of the crime and the need for accountability in the financial sector, where one insider’s corruption can ripple across the economy.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John K. Vincent. It stands as a stark reminder that mortgage fraud isn’t victimless — it destabilizes markets, destroys trust, and lands schemers like Friend exactly where they belong: in federal custody.