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ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) - Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp's former chairman, convicted of masterminding a $2.9 billion fraud scheme before the company collapsed, was sentenced on Thursday to 30 years in prison.
Lee Farkas, 58, was convicted in April on 14 counts of conspiracy, bank, securities and wire fraud that brought down one of the largest private mortgage firms in 2009 as well as contributed to the implosion of one of the top U.S. banks, Colonial BancGroup Inc's Colonial Bank.
He was the last to be sentenced in the fraud case, which represents a victory for the Obama administration because it has been criticized for prosecuting few senior executives over the housing market collapse and subsequent financial crisis.
Farkas was convicted for a scheme that ran from 2002 until 2009 in which he and others hid massive losses by shuffling money between Colonial Bank accounts, as well as by selling mortgages that either didn't exist, had already been sold or worthless.
Before being sentenced, Farkas read a brief statement in which he said he "strived to be a good person" and that he believed the employees of the mortgage firm and the bank were "acting together in good faith" rather than greed.
While he said he was remorseful, Judge Leonie Brinkema said that she did not detect any remorse in his statement -- rather "you regret getting caught." She imposed the 30-year sentence and also ordered him to forfeit more than $38.5 million.
"This was a very serious series of crimes," Brinkema said.
Farkas and other executives at the mortgage company were also accused of misappropriating money from one of its multi-billion dollar funding mechanisms that had two big investors, Deutsche Bank AG and BNP Paribas SA.
After the 90-minute hearing, Justice Department officials called Farkas' statement refusing to take the blame for masterminding the scheme "truly astounding."
"Lee Farkas perpetrated an absolutely staggering fraud," Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's criminal division, told reporters afterward. "This was a man who lived the life of a prince."
Prosecutors sought an order that Farkas be required to forfeit at least 11 properties in Florida and Maine as well as 11 luxury and antique vehicles, including a 1929 Ford Model A Woody and a 1965 Shelby Cobra.
Lee Farkas, 58, was convicted in April on 14 counts of conspiracy, bank, securities and wire fraud that brought down one of the largest private mortgage firms in 2009 as well as contributed to the implosion of one of the top U.S. banks, Colonial BancGroup Inc's Colonial Bank.
He was the last to be sentenced in the fraud case, which represents a victory for the Obama administration because it has been criticized for prosecuting few senior executives over the housing market collapse and subsequent financial crisis.
Farkas was convicted for a scheme that ran from 2002 until 2009 in which he and others hid massive losses by shuffling money between Colonial Bank accounts, as well as by selling mortgages that either didn't exist, had already been sold or worthless.
Before being sentenced, Farkas read a brief statement in which he said he "strived to be a good person" and that he believed the employees of the mortgage firm and the bank were "acting together in good faith" rather than greed.
While he said he was remorseful, Judge Leonie Brinkema said that she did not detect any remorse in his statement -- rather "you regret getting caught." She imposed the 30-year sentence and also ordered him to forfeit more than $38.5 million.
"This was a very serious series of crimes," Brinkema said.
Farkas and other executives at the mortgage company were also accused of misappropriating money from one of its multi-billion dollar funding mechanisms that had two big investors, Deutsche Bank AG and BNP Paribas SA.
After the 90-minute hearing, Justice Department officials called Farkas' statement refusing to take the blame for masterminding the scheme "truly astounding."
"Lee Farkas perpetrated an absolutely staggering fraud," Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's criminal division, told reporters afterward. "This was a man who lived the life of a prince."
Prosecutors sought an order that Farkas be required to forfeit at least 11 properties in Florida and Maine as well as 11 luxury and antique vehicles, including a 1929 Ford Model A Woody and a 1965 Shelby Cobra.