JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Two men accused of obtaining about $17.7 million in fraudulent mortgage loans have pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Justin D. Barker, 31, and Robert W. Hulbert, Jr., 45, both of Jacksonville, could face up to 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million.

According to the plea agreements, between January 2005 and June 2006, Barker negotiated with sellers of residential real estate properties, who executed purchase and sale agreements to sell their properties. A licensed real estate appraiser -- named a co-conspirator by federal prosecutors -- then fraudulently appraised the properties at substantially higher amounts than those stated on the agreements.

Prosecutors said Barker and Hulbert then provided the second, fraudulent, agreement with inflated appraisal prices along with other fraudulent loan application documents to lenders, including federally insured lending institutions.

Based on the fraudulent documents, the lenders approved loans in the amounts of the inflated appraisals.

Hulbert, as the manager of the Jacksonville branch of Nations Title Agency of Florida, operated as the closing agent for the transactions. At the closings, Hulbert would disburse funds from the lenders, providing the sellers with checks in the amount of the original sales prices, and providing the remainder of the loan funds -- the proceeds of the fraud -- to one or more of the conspirators.

Prosecutors said the Barker and Hulbert grossed approximately $4.024 million in proceeds from the fraudulent transactions.