Jimmy Hitchcock, 43, Clemmons, North Carolina, former NFL football player, was sentenced on Tuesday, September 23, 2014, to serve 46 months in federal prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, for his role in a multi-million mortgage fraud conspiracy. Hitchcock and his conspirators used false documents to support mortgage transactions and even recruited a bank insider to assist in the scheme.
Hitchock pleaded guilty in June 2013 to one count of mortgage fraud conspiracy, one count of bank bribery conspiracy and one count of money laundering conspiracy.
In sentencing Hitchcock, Chief U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney found that Hitchcock was the leader or organizer of this mortgage fraud conspiracy and further that Hitchcock had engaged in a sophisticated scheme by, among other things, creating bogus “official checks” that could be used to make it appear as if buyers had made down payments when in fact they had not.
According to court documents, Hitchcock created other false documents to support the mortgage fraud transactions and recruited a bank insider to assist in the fraud, by paying her bribes to provide bogus verifications of deposit to support the mortgage fraud transactions.
According to information presented at the sentencing hearing, the losses incurred by financial and lending institutions associated with the mortgage fraud transactions that Hitchcock participated in were approximately $4.5 million. Additionally, Hitchcock personally received more than $500,000 from the loan proceeds fraudulently obtained by the conspiracy during the sixteen months it operated.
Hitchcock has been in federal custody since his September 2012 arrest in on these charges.
U.S. Attorney Anne M. Tompkins announced the sentence.
U.S. Attorney Tompkins was joined in making the announcement by John A. Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, Thomas J. Holloman III, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI).
