Claiming financial hardship, the woman asked and received forgiveness for more than $40,000 owed on her mortgage
A Texan woman has admitted to defrauding SunTrust Mortgage and Freddie Mac, resulting in a loss of more than $40,000 after carrying out a short sale on her property, the Department of Justice has announced.
Shauna Sutherland, a former special agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, pleaded guilty to the wire fraud scheme before District Judge Robert Scola Jr. of the Southern District of Florida.
Sutherland admitted that she defrauded SunTrust and Freddie Mac into allowing a sale of her Gainesville, Ga., property to a family friend acting as a straw purchaser. Citing a purported financial hardship, she falsely represented that there were no hidden agreements and requested forgiveness of more than $40,000 owed on the mortgage.
SunTrust and Freddie Mac accepted the sale offer based on those representations. The straw purchaser purportedly acquired the property for $34,000, with Sutherland released from her outstanding debt. As a result of the sale, Freddie Mac, which had by then purchased the mortgage, calculated a total loss of more than $42,000.
However, under Sutherland’s secret agreement with her friend, she actually provided the purchase money and continued to hold the property. Sutherland collected rent from tenants and paid for maintenance
Following the sale, Sutherland used the straw purchaser’s identify to communicate about the property as well as signed the purchaser’s signature on related documents. In 2013, Sutherland sold the property, also through the straw purchaser, and used the proceeds to purchase another property.
Sutherland is set to be sentenced in June.
