In the following press release United States Attorney David E. Nahmias announced that VIRGINIA ROSE NOVRIT, 67, of Hilton Head, South Carolina, CLARENCE LORENZO DAVIS, 68, of Hilton Head, South Carolina, GREGORY JEROME WINGS, JR., 25, of Atlanta, Georgia, OLYMPIA D. AMMONS, 31, of St. Louis, Missouri, and RONALD DENZIL MARTIN, JR., 37, of Lithonia, Georgia, were sentenced this week by United States District Judge Beverly B. Martin on charges of conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering related to a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme.

United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said, “These defendants and their co-defendants are responsible for causing millions of dollars in losses to mortgage lenders by artificially inflating the sales prices on million dollar homes and submitting fraudulent loan applications to fund the purchases of these homes. In cooperation with federal, state, and local law enforcement agents, we will continue to vigorously investigate and prosecute mortgage fraud schemes in the metro Atlanta area.”

NOVRIT was sentenced to 3 years, 5 months in prison to be followed by 4 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $839,585 in restitution. NOVRIT was convicted by a jury on November 26, 2007, after a three week trial.

DAVIS was sentenced to 4 years, 3 months in prison to be followed by 4 years ofsupervised release, and ordered to pay $839,585 in restitution. DAVIS was convicted by the same jury on November 26, 2007.

WINGS was sentenced to 10 years, 2 months in prison to be followed by 4 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $8,577,845 in restitution. WINGS pleaded guilty on September 7, 2007.

AMMONS was sentenced to 5 years, 3 months in prison to be followed by 4 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $7,549,044 in restitution. AMMONS pleaded guilty on October 2, 2006.

MARTIN was sentenced to 1 year, 1 day in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $423,595 in restitution. MARTIN pleaded guilty on May 16, 2007.

According to United States Attorney Nahmias and the information presented in court: From late 2004 through early 2006, NOVRIT, DAVIS, WINGS, AMMONS, and MARTIN participated in a mortgage fraud scheme that involved millions of dollars in fraudulently inflated mortgage loans being provided to unqualified straw borrowers. The straw borrowers were paid as much as $600,000 per property from fraudulently obtained loan proceeds through shell companies. NOVRIT and DAVIS together obtained mortgage loans totaling more than $4 million within a six month period to purchase eight properties. WINGS obtained mortgage loans totaling over $1.2 million to purchase a single property by providing the lender with false qualifying information. WINGS also recruited a number of other unqualified buyers into the scheme and obtained a share of the fraudulently obtained loan proceeds from those transactions for doing so. AMMONS was a loan originator for “Ace Mortgage Funding,” a national mortgage brokerage firm.

AMMONS brokered fraudulent mortgages totaling over $7 million. MARTIN was paid $75,000 to act as a straw buyer and submit a fraudulent loan application for one property.

Four other defendants have already been sentenced to prison terms in related cases, and five more defendants await sentencing. This case was investigated by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Gale McKenzie, William L. McKinnon, Jr., and Douglas Gilfillan prosecuted the case.