Family, Hit Man Receive Hefty Sentences for Fraud

A federal court sentenced three family members to prison Monday for their role in $11 million in mortgage fraud, just as another court upped the sentence for a onetime company executive-turned-hit man currently serving time.

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These stories made our mortgage fraud blotter Monday. MReport sourced the stories from the ""Associated Press"":http://www.news-leader.com/article/20120206/NEWS12/302060107/Monett-family-sentenced-11-million-mortgage-fraud and ""Washington Post"":http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/at-least-8-more-years-in-prison-for-ny-mortgage-scammer-who-then-planned-to-get-witness-killed/2012/02/06/gIQA5LtDuQ_story.html.

The former news outlet accounted for the story of three family members from Monett, Minnesota, convicted by a federal court for participating in a money-laundering scheme with appraisers, mortgage brokers, Realtors, and investors.

Charles Walker, wife Linda, and son Lee Edward received

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separate sentences, with the former sent to the slammer for 10 years without any possibility of parole, according to the AP.

His wife received one year and one day by comparison, the news outlet reports, while their son saw his next 30 months sentenced to federal prison.

Two appraisers, five real estate agents, four investors, and three mortgage brokers helped the family rake in roughly $11 million by drafting false mortgage applications, bilking lenders with inflated prices, and sharing the illicit funds among each other, the AP said.

The Post meanwhile offered up the story of Aaron Hand, onetime executive of AFG Financial Group, whom a federal judge sentenced to eight to 16 years on top of eight to 25 years he continues to serve for his role in lining up straw buyers to fraudulently exact $100 million in mortgage loans.

Hand saw his day in court Monday for attempting to orchestrate a hit on a key witness who turned against him and others at a previous trial concerning his mortgage fraud case, according to the news outlet.

The Post quoted Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance as saying that the convict's ""actions strike at the heart of the justice system.""

The onetime company executive had previously pled guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit murder, the news outlet said.