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Richmond, VA – Fabian Lamont Thorne, age 35, of Newark, New Jersey, pled guilty today to a one-count information charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Thorne is facing up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. In connection with his guilty plea, Thorne stipulated to a loss amount of $371, 411.48 for restitution and sentencing purposes. Chuck Rosenberg, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Joseph Clarke, Special Agent-In-Charge, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General; and Jennifer Smith Love, Special Agent-In-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Richmond Division announced the plea.
Fabian Thorne has admitted that he was involved in a mortgage fraud conspiracy along with Anna Thorne, Sterling Palmer, and others from about June 2005 through about July 2006. During that time period, Fabian Thorne and his confederates worked at Prestige Mortgage, where they arranged to purchase homes from people in financial trouble through a “home relief” program offering the home owners an opportunity to sell their homes to someone associated with Prestige Mortgage in an attempt to save the homes from foreclosure. Fabian Thorne stipulated, however, that the home relief program was executed without full disclosure to the victim homeowners of how the transaction worked. In fact, a significant portion of the equity in the victims’ homes was taken by Fabian Thorne and his co-conspirators in the transactions. Furthermore, numerous false representations were made on the mortgage documentation to allow the loans to go through. Fabian Thorne has admitted that if the true nature of the transactions had been revealed to the mortgage lender, the loans would not have been approved.
The investigation was conducted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Michael Gill is prosecuting the case for the United States.
SOURCE: Media Newswire
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