Bankruptcy Fraud Resource Center | Wayne D. Holly, P.C.

Bankruptcy Fraud Defendant Barred from Working in Real Estate Field Not Entitled to Relief

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida denied the request of a bankruptcy fraud defendant to modify the terms of his supervised released.  David Griffin was convicted, in connection a mortgage rescue scheme, of bankruptcy fraud and making a false material statement under oath during a section 341(a) meeting of creditors.  He was sentenced to concurrent 36 month terms in prison, followed by concurrent 36 month terms of supervised release. 

As a special condition of supervised released, the court imposed an occupational restriction prohibiting the defendant from working in any capacity in the real estate field.  Griffin moved for relief explaining that he seeks to be employed in the real estate field under the supervision of a licensed Florida attorney, conducting real property closings.  In that capacity, the defendant would be privy to personal identifying information of borrowers and would be handling closing documents in a fiduciary capacity.  The court denied the motion in a short order issued in United States v. Griffin, No. 8: 15-CR-157-T-27MAP (February 11, 20202) (here).

According to the court, the defendant should not be employed in any capacity involving real property matters or positions of trust, considering the nature of the scheme to defraud he devised. "The restriction has a reasonably direct relationship with the conduct relevant to Defendant's offenses and is reasonably necessary to protect the public from the possibility that he will continue to engage in unlawful conduct similar to that of which he was convicted."

Florida Jury Convicts Defendant of Bankruptcy Fraud in Mortgage Rescue Scheme

Christopher Coburn was found guilty today of five counts of bankruptcy fraud and two counts of falsification of records in a bankruptcy proceeding arising from his involvement in a classic mortgage rescue scheme.  He faces a maximum penalty of 5 years’ imprisonment for each bankruptcy fraud count and up to 20 years in prison for each falsification of records count. His sentencing hearing has been scheduled for September 9, 2019.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Coburn solicited homeowners whose mortgages were in default and offered to rescue their homes from foreclosure. In order to prevent the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”) and multiple financial institutions holding mortgages from lawfully foreclosing on homeowners’ properties, Coburn engaged a bankruptcy fraud scheme in which he filed or caused to be filed fraudulent bankruptcy petitions in the name of the homeowner, without homeowner’s knowledge or consent, just prior to the scheduled foreclosure sale dates. These fraudulent bankruptcies invoked the automatic stay provision of the bankruptcy code, preventing Fannie Mae and the financial institutions from conducting lawful foreclosure sales and obtaining title to the property. The fraudulent bankruptcy petitions filed by Coburn enabled him to collect fees and allowed him to refer the properties to real estate agents in order to obtain ill-gotten commissions for short-sales. Coburn also filed other false and fraudulent bankruptcy forms in the names of some homeowners relied on by the Office of the United States Trustee and the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida.