The leader of a multimillion-dollar bank fraud scheme has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, according to an announcement by Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Kotto Yaphet Paul, 50, from Waxhaw, N.C., received this sentence along with five years of supervised release. His co-conspirator, Latoya Tameika Ford, 50, from Covington, Georgia, was sentenced to 27 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Both individuals admitted guilt to charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. Paul also pleaded guilty to money laundering and aiding and abetting.
Another participant in the scheme, Bruce Howard Marko, 66, from Charlotte, was sentenced earlier in April to just over a year in prison with two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution. Love Norman from West Palm Beach, Florida has also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
Additional defendants involved were previously convicted on similar charges. Amrish D. Patel received a 15-month sentence; Dwight A. Peebles Jr., an 18-month sentence; Denise Woodard was sentenced to three years; and Derrick L. Harrison received just over a year’s sentence. Restitution amounts for these defendants ranged from $620,000 to more than $3 million.
Court documents reveal that since 2018 the group defrauded at least 17 federally insured financial institutions out of over $17 million through fraudulent loans involving false information on applications regarding income and employment details as well as financial statements.
Paul led the operation with help from his network including Ford who assisted in submitting these falsified loan applications which included business loans for equipment purchases or land development as well as residential mortgage loans.
Despite claims made on loan applications about their intended purposes such as real estate purchases or business expenses most proceeds were used otherwise leading many loans into default causing significant losses for lenders.
In furtherance of this fraud Paul engaged in money laundering conducting transactions using criminally obtained funds like wiring nearly $400k through Norman's purchase of property in Florida back in 2020 according court documents showing substantial defaults occurred across issued loans resulting damages suffered by affected banks
U.S Attorney Ferguson credited multiple federal agencies including Inspector Generals' offices across various boards FBI Charlotte Field Office IRS Criminal Investigation unit among others responsible investigating case
Assistant U.S Attorney Don Gast prosecutes case based Asheville office
