Monday, Aug. 3, 2015 | 10:20 p.m.
An Arizona man whose earlier conviction was tossed was found guilty again in a mortgage fraud scheme that cost lenders about $25 million, Nevada’s U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bodgen announced Monday.
Brett Depue, 42, of Gilbert, Ariz., was convicted Monday of conspiracy to commit mail, bank and wire fraud, and seven counts of wire fraud.
In 2012, Depue was convicted on mortgage fraud charges and sentenced to 22 years in prison. But he appealed and the case was overturned by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ordered a new trial. After Monday's verdict, Depue was remanded to custody and will be sentenced Nov. 9.
From 2005 to 2007, Depue ran several investment businesses in Las Vegas in which he conspired with others to defraud federally insured banks by recruiting straw buyers — usually friends or family members with decent credit scores — to buy homes they had no intention of living in, Bogden said. Depue would then control the purchased homes, paying the straw buyers nearly $5,000 to put the properties in their names. The properties were bought for a price above the asking price, and the difference was disbursed at closing to one of Depue's entities.
Using this scheme, Depue and his co-conspirators obtained mortgage loans for 110 homes in Las Vegas and Henderson. The houses went into foreclosure, and financial institutions lost an estimated $24 million as a result of Depue’s fraud, Bogden said.
Ten co-conspirators were convicted for their roles in the scheme.
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