Loan Officer Sentenced For Wire Fraud

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville loan officer was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in federal prison for committing wire fraud.

Joseph Grant, 31, was found guilty in May of two counts of wire fraud.

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According to court documents and evidence at trial, Grant operated a business in Jacksonville known as Joe-Can-Do-It.net, as well as being employed as a senior loan officer for a mortgage lender. Grant solicited individuals to purchase houses he brokered despite not being a licensed real estate agent, prosecutors said.

They said Grant promised those individuals that he could obtain 100 percent financing if they purchased one of the houses he had listed.

After the individuals submitted financial information to Grant, he prepared residential loan applications that falsely stated or inflated the individuals' financial information, prosecutors said. Grant submitted the falsified information to the lenders, prosecutors said.

They said the loans applied for were not for 100 percent financed loans. Grant inflated the sales prices of the houses by the approximate amount of the needed down payment, thereby causing the whole transaction to be financed, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Grant or others would then provide the money needed for the down payment to the buyer. The settlement statement, as well as other documents submitted to the lenders by Grant, would falsely indicate that the down payment was coming from the buyer, prosecutors said.

In reality, the person who had advanced the down payment money recovered that money at or after the transaction closed, prosecutors said.