Fraudster hires strippers as loan processors, scams victims out of $95m, assaults prosecutor

A man who fled in June to avoid a prison sentence for participating in one of the largest mortgage scams in the nation was arrested Monday and allegedly assaulted the prosecutor at his arraignment

So if you’re arrested after being on the lam for nine months to avoid a 13-year sentence for mortgage fraud, what’s the very last thing you want to do?

If you answered, “Assault a federal prosecutor,” you’re smarter than Ronnie Duke.

The 46-year-old Michigan resident, who fled in June to avoid a prison sentence for participating in one of the largest mortgage scams in the nation, was arrested Monday and allegedly assaulted the prosecutor at his arraignment, according to a Detroit News article.

“He suddenly just bolted and assaulted her,” U.S. District Court spokesman Rod Hansen told the News. “It was only a matter of seconds before the marshals subdued him. It was clearly more than a shove.”

Duke, who has a rap sheet stretching back to his teenage years, was convicted for participating in a mortgage scheme that cost its victims nearly $95 million in losses, the News reported. Prosecutors say Duke and his co-conspirators used phony documents to get hundreds of mortgage loans between 2003 and 2007, then used the loan proceeds to buy cars, boats, luxury vacations and even a nightclub.

Duke himself created fake title companies, collaborated with appraisers on the fraud and hired former strippers as loan processors, the News reported. Prosecutors say he and his co-conspirators secured more than 450 loans in the Detroit area as part of the fraud.