A judge has pleaded not guilty in a $1.4 million mortgage scam, but she’s been removed from the bench indefinitely over the charges
A judge in Cook County, Ill., has been removed from the bench indefinitely after being indicted on federal mortgage fraud charges, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Judge Jessica O’Brien, 49, pleaded not guilty to the charges, which involve allegedly lying to obtain more than $1.4 million in mortgages.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, O’Brien was charged with one count of mail fraud affecting a financial institution and one count of bank fraud.
She was asked to post an unsecured bond of $100,000 by federal prosecutors and faces four to seven years imprisonment.
Prior to being a judge, she owned a real estate company, O’Brien Realty LLC, where she allegedly lied to receive mortgages on two South Side investment properties she handled between 2004 and 2007.
O’Brien was elected judge in 2012 and recently served as a small-claims judge. She was the first Filipino-American judge in the county and the first Asian president of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois.
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Judge Jessica O’Brien, 49, pleaded not guilty to the charges, which involve allegedly lying to obtain more than $1.4 million in mortgages.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, O’Brien was charged with one count of mail fraud affecting a financial institution and one count of bank fraud.
She was asked to post an unsecured bond of $100,000 by federal prosecutors and faces four to seven years imprisonment.
Prior to being a judge, she owned a real estate company, O’Brien Realty LLC, where she allegedly lied to receive mortgages on two South Side investment properties she handled between 2004 and 2007.
O’Brien was elected judge in 2012 and recently served as a small-claims judge. She was the first Filipino-American judge in the county and the first Asian president of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois.
Related stories:
Former NJ mayor headed to prison for accepting HUD funds as bribes
Former mortgage bank head imprisoned for multi-million dollar fraud
