KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former bank examiner for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was sentenced in federal court today for participating in a mortgage fraud scheme involving the sale of his house in Lee’s Summit, Mo.
Rodney Foster, 47, of Lee’s Summit, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to 12 months in federal prison without parole. Foster was taken into custody immediately after the hearing to begin serving his sentence.
On July 20, 2012, Foster was convicted of participating in a conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and wire fraud from Nov. 28 to Dec. 9, 2005, related to the sale of the Lee's Summit residence.
Foster and his co-conspirators obtained names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of others, without their knowledge or permission. They used this stolen identity information to apply for mortgage loans to purchase real estate. Conspirators used the stolen identities to disguise the fact that they did not have sufficient credit to purchase the properties using their own identities. Conspirators deposited the proceeds of the mortgage loans in fraudulent bank accounts of non-existent businesses in order to take cash out of each transaction.
Foster acted as a mortgage broker for the sale of the residential property in Lee=s Summit, which belonged to he and his wife (they have subsequently divorced). Foster agreed that the property could be sold for $280,000 to a straw buyer through the mortgage fraud scheme, with the proceeds split among Foster and the other conspirators. Foster knew the appraisal for the residence had been fraudulently inflated in order for conspirators to receive cash out of the purchase based on artificial equity. A portion of the proceeds - approximately $56,000 - was wired to a fraudulent bank account in the name of an identity theft victim.
Several of Foster's co-conspirators, who were not charged in this indictment, have been convicted in separate cases related to the Lee’s Summit residence and other similar schemes.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John E. Cowles. It was investigated by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Secret Service and IRS-Criminal Investigation.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
