Ex-Real Estate Agent Gets 15 Years In I.D. Theft, Mortgage Fraud Scam; One Unwitting Victim Left Broke

In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Star Tribune reports:

• Former Twin Cities real estate agent Larry Maxwell received a 15-year prison sentence Thursday from a Hennepin County judge who said Maxwell's extensive mortgage and identity fraud scheme merited the term. Judge Regina Chu could have sentenced Maxwell to about 10 years in prison, but she said the gravity of his conduct and his "total lack of remorse" made the longer sentence appropriate. Maxwell has been in custody since a jury convicted him in April after a six-week trial.(1)

• Chu also ordered Maxwell to pay restitution in an amount to be determined to John Foster, who spoke for 45 minutes about how Maxwell's theft of his identity left him broke and depressed. [...] For Foster, of Plymouth, the ordeal began in 2006 when he received a mortgage statement by mail for a north Minneapolis house about which he knew nothing. A Bloomington property also was purchased in his name, and he and his wife say they lost their good credit as well as retirement and college funds as a result of the scheme.

For the story, see Fraud earns ex-real estate agent a 15-year sentence (Judge says lack of remorse merited a longer prison term. He also was fined $500,000).

(1) Reportedly, the jury convicted Maxwell of nine counts of theft by swindle, six of aggravated forgery, two of identity theft and one of racketeering. Two other participants in the scheme pleaded guilty earlier.