Four defendants in an alleged property-flipping scheme involving 350 Dayton, Ohio-area loans worth $22 million are expected to plead guilty to some charges.
Randall Aaron Davidson, 56, the alleged ringleader of the mortgage fraud scam, was scheduled to go on trial next week with co-defendants Michael McWhirter, Mary J. Donaldson and Jocelyn L. Hammond, the Dayton Daily News reported Wednesday.
All four are now expected to enter guilty pleas to some charges, court officials told the paper.
The case is the biggest pursued so far by a mortgage fraud task force formed last year by state and federal investigators to investigate real estate deals in Montgomery County.
In June, Ronald A. Waker entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors in a separate case involving 148 allegedly fraudulent loans totaling $9 million. Waker was sentenced to 20 months in prison, ordered to make $2.4 million in restitution, and agreed to forfeit 31 properties, the Daily News reported Sunday.
In the latest case, McWhirter and Davidson allegedly recruited buyers of investment properties who were offered no-money-down loans and cash payments. Davidson is accused of arranging fraudulent loans for homes described in his indictment as “low-income, dilapidated and otherwise depressed properties.”
Davidson faces up to 30 years in prison on the most serious charge he faces, conspiracy to commit money laundering, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Dwight Keller.