(HOUSTON) – A jury has convicted Michael D. Goodson, 39,  for engaging in a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.

        After only one hour and a half of deliberation on Wednesday, July 25, 2007, a federal jury found Goodson guilty of engaging in a conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud and five counts of wire fraud.  The jury returned its verdict late Wednesday afternoon. 

        U. S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes, who presided over the trial has set sentencing for October 29, 2007.   The conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud conviction carries a maximum statutory term of imprisonment of five years, without parole.  Each of the wire fraud and mail fraud convictions carry a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment, without parole.  Each of the nine counts of conviction carry a maximum fine of $250,000.  Goodson has been in federal custody without bond since his arrest in March  2006 and will remain in custody pending his sentencing hearing.    

        During the course of the two-day trial, the United States presented evidence proving that Goodson induced numerous residential mortgage lenders across the country to loan in excess of $11 million from early 2003 into early 2005 by means of the use of false and fraudulent representations in loan applications.    The conspirators falsely represented employment in the name of fictitious businesses and/or inflated salaries to the lenders on loan applications to establish the creditworthiness of the borrowers.  Additional fraudulent documents were provided to the lenders by Goodson and his co-conspirators to support the applications for loans.  

        As part of the scheme, Goodson located residential properties to purchase and negotiated a sales price at the highest value.  With the high sales price, Goodson would receive a substantial payment from the seller’s proceeds at closing based on a fraudulent invoice which indicated his business was being paid for work done to the property.  Goodson also recruited individuals to pose as the purchaser of the house and to represent to the lender they were buying the home as their residence.  Goodson convinced the borrowers he was willing to pay them to simply lend their good credit to a legitimate real estate investment.  Goodson also promised that the transaction would pose no financial risk to the borrower because  he would cover all the costs of purchasing and maintaining the property, including paying the mortgage, insurance and taxes.   Ultimately, however, Goodson allowed all the loans to fall into default and the properties were foreclosed by the mortgage companies.

        Goodson’s co-conspirators, Nancy Booth, also known as Nancy Campbell, age unknown, and Leslie R. Tarrance, Sr., 62, have both been convicted for their respective rolls in the scheme.  Booth, a loan officer at American Mortgage Group who coordinated the loans for the purchase of properties and prepared the false and fraudulent loan documents, pled guilty in October 2006 to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and to two counts of mail fraud.  Tarrance, who operated Ultra Classic Custom Homes, a custom home building company, sold to Goodson eight properties at agreed upon inflated prices which were used in the fraud scheme and financially benefitted both men, pled guilty on July 17, 2007 to the conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud.  Both remain free on bond pending their respective sentencing hearings. Booth and Tarrance testified during trial against their Goodson.

 

        This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Postal Inspection Service, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Melissa Annis.

 

# # #