DETROIT -- (May 16, 2007) -- A Canton resident
was sentenced today to 56 months imprisonment for charges
related to the fraudulent procurement of $3.8 million in
mortgage and other loan proceeds and the fraudulent use
of false social security numbers in filing multiple bankruptcy
petitions, United States Attorney Stephen J. Murphy (http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/mie/)
announced today.
Murphy was joined in the announcement by John Keenan,
the Detroit Resident Agent in Charge of the Social Security
Administration’s Office of Inspector General.
Scott Edward Ashley, aged 40, was sentenced by United
States District Judge Gerald
E. Rosen.
Ashley pled guilty in the midst of a November 2006 jury
trial in which he was charged with defrauding Comerica,
Wells Fargo, and Huntington banks in applications for
loans totaling $3.8 million. It was further charged that,
in addition to providing false information on his loan
applications, Ashley supplied the banks with bogus federal
tax records that falsely indicated that he was earning
over $1 million a year. Actually, according to the indictment,
Ashley was receiving Social Security disability benefits
and, with his spouse, had joint annual income of less
than $25,000. It was further charged that Ashley’s
fraud caused the banks to ultimately lose over $1.5 million.
It was also charged that Ashley utilized false social
security numbers not only in his loan applications, but
in nine bankruptcy petitions Ashley filed between 1997
and 2006.
United States Attorney Stephen J. Murphy said, “Today’s
sentence should discourage future flim-flam artists from
trying to make an easy buck by falsifying loan applications
and bankruptcy court petitions. I applaud the hard work
of the Social Security Administration’s Office of
Inspector General, as well as the trial team from my office
for aggressively pursuing this case.”
Ashley pleaded guilty after one full day of trial, by
entering guilty pleas to three counts of bank fraud and
four counts of social security number fraud. There was
no plea bargain.
In addition to the sentence of imprisonment, Judge Rosen
ordered Ashley to pay $1,664,580 in restitution
The investigation of this case was conducted by the Office
of Inspector General of the Social Security Administration.
The case has been prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney
Paul Burakoff.
SOURCE: U.S. Attorney Eastern District of Michigan
