Thursday, March 25, 2010

Kansas City Man, Woman Sentenced for Mortgage Fraud

March 25, 2010 - KANSAS CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that two Kansas City, Mo., residents were sentenced in federal court today for their roles in a mortgage fraud scheme that involved dozens of mortgage transactions.

Mark Kiel, 42, and Codi McArdle, 26, who are common law husband and wife, of Kansas City, were sentenced in separate appearances before U.S. District Judge Ortrie D. Smith this morning. Kiel was sentenced to two years and nine months in federal prison without parole; McArdle was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Kiel and McArdle to pay restitution to the victim financial institutions.

On Oct. 22, 2009, both Kiel and McArdle pleaded guilty to their roles in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They admitted that the conspiracy involved 37 different mortgage transactions with more than 10 different lenders.

Kiel, who was a loan broker at First National Mortgage Solutions, and McArdle would have two separate HUD-1 documents prepared during real estate purchases. One document reflected the true sale price of the property, but the second, fraudulent document reflected an inflated sales price that was disclosed to the lender. At the time of the closing, the difference between the true sales price and the inflated sales price would be cut in a check, which would be provided to either Kiel or McArdle.

The difference between the actual sale price and what was reported to the mortgage company was referred to as the “spread.” Kiel and McArdle admitted that the total “spread” from 37 transactions was $438,048.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David M. Ketchmark. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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