Posted on 01/27/2015 9:57:29 PM PST by dennisw
Declaring herself "broken" and "disgraced," former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway tearfully took responsibility for fraud Tuesday before a judge sentenced her to a year and a day in prison for concealing assets while she was pleading with a bank for a sale on her underwater home.
But U.S. District Judge John Corbett O'Meara rejected community service and instead chose prison. Crying and reading from a statement, Hathaway, 59, blamed her crime on "personal issues" but added: "That is no excuse."
The 2011 sale of Hathaway's Grosse Pointe Park home, near Detroit, erased the balance of her mortgage, $664,000. Prosecutors said that she claimed hardship while still possessing more than $1 million in assets, including a debt-free home in Windermere, Fla.
In short sales, banks let distressed owners sell properties for less than what's owed on them, providing a significant benefit to borrowers who can't afford to keep paying the mortgage but want to avoid foreclosure. Hathaway and husband Michael Kingsley put the Florida home in a relative's name while dealing with ING Bank on the Michigan house, then got the property back in their names in 2012. Before the sale, she also tapped more than $350,000 in cash to buy two homes that were placed in the names of stepchildren, according to the government.
Authorities said her expertise in real estate and law was a factor in the scheme. "We do not ask you to sentence Diane Hathaway based on who she is," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Lemisch, noting her successful career as a judge and prosecutor. "We ask you to sentence Diane Hathaway based on what she did."
(Excerpt) Read more at realestate.aol.com ...
Democrat.
I'd like to send this guy a bottle of his favorite hooch.
A local TV station did the initial sniffing around her dealings.
She was also a real estate broker, her husband is an attorney, so the two of them knew the system inside and out.
This democrat abused a high trust and should have gotten the maximum sentence.
Lowlife slimey gutterwhore vile registered Democrat alert!
Another of the liars, thieves and perverts who have ruined and continue to ruin this once great nation.
What is the significance of an almost 2 year old article just now being posted?
Don’t lie to your bankers.
That a Michigan Supreme Court Justice went to jail for real estate fraud
Diane Hathaway (D)
The legal way to play that game was to sell the house to a trusted investor as a short sale - not an extended family member - and buy it back with a first right of refusal 3 y. later. Investor would need 3 year to hold to avoid pre-payment penalty on the mortgage. Buy it back at Fair Market Value...I doubt that values will increase that much in 3 years in Detroit. Do the same with the FL home and u ar good to go...
The real tragedy is that she and her husband was too stupid to figure this out, yet she was in charge of people’s lives.
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