In February of 2003, North Carolina-based Oasis Mortgage was profiled in a Greensboro magazine as a fast-growing and successful company that was founded and operated by members of the Penniegraft family.
On Dec. 9, eight Oasis employees and five others will be sentenced in federal court on charges of brokering phony mortgage loans through an elaborate scheme that included false documents, bribes, kickbacks and other illegal activity.
All have plead guilty through agreements with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Greensboro, Lynn Klauer, the office spokeswoman, said in an interview.
And all face charges of conspiracy to commit loan, mail, wire and bank fraud, a crime punishable by as much as five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to court records.
The 13 were indicted late last year for their role in a scheme that prosecutors said involved several members of one family and lasted from January of 2000 to the fall of 2003.
Facing prison time are: James Lester Penniegraft, who has been identified as the company’s founder; Dante Rashad Penniegraft, James’ nephew; Joann Penniegraft Cheek, James’ sister; Sandra Banks Thompson; Tommy Penniegraft, another relative; Earl Dwayne Boss; Ann Marie Caudill; Valerie Kaye Penniegraft, yet another relative; Orlando Burton; Stanley Tyrone Montgomery; Deborah Penniegraft Mapp; Stevie Louis Graves; and Herman Gene McBride.
The defendants licensed as mortgage loan officers have had their licenses revoked, according to postings on the Web site of Mortgage Division of the North Carolina Office of the Commissioner of Banks.
They are Dante Rashad Penniegraft, Sandra Banks Thompson, Tommy Penniegraft Joann Penniegraft Cheek and Earl Dwayne Boss.
Investigators have said Oasis brokered as much as $20 million in loans annually, but the exact extent of the fraud has not been determined. That figure could come out during the Dec. 9 sentencing.
Court records show that employees at Oasis Mortgage — which is based in High Point, N.C. — would recruit fake, or “straw” buyers, for homes.
Those buyers were then given phony documents to submit when applying for loans. The documents included fake information about the buyer’s employment history, salary, debts, tax returns and other information, prosecutors say.
Down payments were ostensibly made, but those proved to be phony as well. And inflated appraisals were used to pump up the value of the homes, allowing those involved in the scam to pocket the difference between the actual and faked appraisal of the property, it is alleged in court records.
To pull to scam off, however, Oasis needed outside help.
Court records indicate that bribes and kickbacks were used to bring others in, including a lawyer who provided fake settlement statements, a bank loan officer who approved the phony loans, the owner of a real estate company who created fake verifications of rental activity and an appraiser who jacked up home values.
Along with the U.S. Attorney’s office the FBI and Internal Revenue Service were also involved, Klauer said.
