Mortgage Frauds Were All in the Family

DALLAS (CN) - A Dallas man was sentenced to 6½ in federal prison for $1.3 million mortgage fraud, and his nephew to 1 1/2 years.

Lionel Alexander, 50, pleaded guilty in November to mail fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement announcing his sentence. Alexander was president and CEO of American Family Mortgage in Dallas.

Blake Alexander, 27, of Lafayette, La., pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to make a false statement to a financial institution. He worked at AFM as a loan processor.

Chief U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater also ordered Lionel Alexander to pay $1,339,305.23 in restitution - $622,879.01 of it jointly and severally with Blake Alexander.

Both men were ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on March 20.

Lionel Alexander began recruiting straw borrowers in August 2005 by telling them they would be purchasing investment properties in which people with bad credit could live. He claimed he would find the homes and tenants who would rent to own the houses while their credit was being repaired, which would take six months to two years.

Forty-eight properties in the Dallas-Fort Worth area were involved, prosecutors said.

Blake Alexander agreed with his uncle to make a false statement to get a loan from Washington Mutual Bank.

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