Fort Myers man pleads guilty in Cape wire fraud case
A local man accused of providing fraudulent information to obtain a loan for the purchase of a Cape Coral home has pleaded guilty in federal court.
John E. Evans III, 31, of Fort Myers, pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of wire fraud in a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. If convicted, Evans will face a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison, officials reported.
Evans entered into a contract to buy the waterfront home in the 5300 block of Cobalt Court, and had a loan application prepared in his name for a mortgage on a Cape property. He was seeking to borrow $616,250.
“His loan application contained false representations concerning his monthly income, his assets and the amount of the deposit he was making on the property,” William Daniels, spokesman for the Middle District of Florida, said in a prepared statement.
According to the indictment, Evans reported that his monthly income was $17,500, and that his liquid assets were $315,752. He intended to make a money deposit of $108,750, but it came as a “fictitious cashier’s check.”
Evans also had HUD settlement papers prepared for the mortgage lender that “falsely reflected an inflated sales price and false pay-off amounts” to correspond with the false information provided on the application.
This induced the lender to “wire transfer an artificially inflated loan,” the indictment states. In February 2009, Evans was wired the $616,250.
Evans is scheduled to be sentenced next year before Judge John Steele.
Assistant United States Attorney Yolande Viacava is handling the case.
Defense attorney David Joffe is representing Evans.
Joffe did not immediately return a message seeking comment Wednesday.