Lee Farkas, former chairman of mortgage company Taylor Bean, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for spearheading one of the largest bank fraud schemes in U.S. history. The case serves as the largest prosecution to come out of the financial crisis.
Fannie Mae uncovered Farkas’ scheme in early 2000 when a Fannie Mae executive discovered Farkas had sold the executive a loan he did not own. This prompted Fannie Mae to conduct its own two-year investigation, which uncovered Farkas’ fraud totaled upwards of $3 billion. Ultimately, the scheme led to the demise of Colonial Bank and bilked the government and investors out of billions of dollars.
Read more about Farkas’ scheme and sentencing.
