3rd N.C. Lawyer to Plead Guilty in Federal Mortgage Fraud Conspiracy Case
A third North Carolina real estate attorney has reportedly agreed to plead guilty in a federal mortgage fraud conspiracy case that allegedly involved selling homes at inflated values in upscale Union County neighborhoods during 2006 and 2007.
Lawyer Christine Calbert Gates, who practices in Charlotte, is accused of acting as a closing attorney in a scheme in which participants allegedly shared proceeds of some $200,000 to $500,000 among themselves again and again as they repeatedly purchased a home from a builder, arranged to resell it to someone else at a much higher price and lied to get a mortgage to fund the deal, reports the Charlotte Observer.
In addition to handling closings that involved falsified documents, Gates is accused of distributing the proceeds among the participants. As part of the plea agreement, she agreed to give up her law license after 20 years of practice, the newspaper says. The article doesn’t specify the exact charges to which she agreed to plead guilty.
Two other North Carolina lawyers also agreed earlier to guilty pleas concerning related alleged mortgage fraud schemes, according to the Observer. They are Demetrius Rainer of Charlotte and Troy Anthony Smith of Waxhaw.
