The South Carolina Carolina Real Estate Commission has fined a sales agent who failed to disclose that he’d been convicted of mortgage fraud until after he was released from prison, but is letting him keep his license.

Paul Lindemann, 33, was fined $500 and publicly reprimanded for demonstrating “bad faith, dishonesty, untrustworthiness, or incompetency,” The Herald newspaper of Rock Hill, S.C., reports.

The Ward Properties salesman was indicted in April 2011 for a mortgage fraud committed 2008. He was issued a provisional real estate sales license in July 2010, which was upgraded to a sales license in July 2011, The Herald said.

Lindemann did not disclose his conviction to the Real Estate Commission until June 5, when he tried to renew his sales license. Felons can have licenses to buy or sell property but in most cases must be supervised by another licensee and would not be allowed to have broker-in-charge status, a spokesman for the commission said.

Neither Lindemann nor Ward Properties belongs to the local Realtor association, the paper said, and the South Carolina Association of Realtors has advocated stricter background checks for people seeking licenses to buy and sell property in the state.

Lindemann’s troubles may not be behind him. Released in February after serving 13 months in prison, the former York County councilman is serving three years’ probation. Prosecutors could ask that his probation be revoked. Source: heraldonline.com.

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