Ridgefield man pleads guilty in mortgage fraud case
Jeremy Richardson of Ridgefield pleaded guilty to money laundering Sept. 23 in Portland’s United States District Court.
Richardson’s plea agreement calls for a 37-month prison sentence and payment of full restitution. A sentencing hearing is set for Jan. 5.
Money laundering carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to three years of supervised release.
Richardson’s guilty plea followed a joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service of a 2007 mortgage fraud scheme. Richardson’s scheme involved as many as 100 residential properties, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Karin J. Immergut.
Richardson admitted to advertising and soliciting real estate investors and to falsifying information given to lenders when investors did not qualify for financing. Richardson also advertised investment properties as rent-to-own properties.
He admitted to inflating property transaction prices to obtain money for business expenses, made fake repair invoices to support those prices and used clients’ down payments for personal and business expenses.
The scheme involved interstate wire transmissions, including $50,000 that went from a victim’s California bank account to a Portland account that Richardson controlled.
Riverwest build-out delayed
Private funding for development of Vancouver’s Riverwest project has been pushed back for at least a year due to inflation and construction costs, reports the project’s Vancouver-based developer, Killian Pacific.
Plans for the project include a new Vancouver Community Library and public/private parking garage at the southeast corner of East Evergreen Boulevard and “C” Street.
Killian Pacific still plans to donate land worth more than $2 million for construction of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District’s new main branch. Construction of the 83,000-square-foot building is slated to begin in 2009 and end in 2011. Public funding for the $37 million, five-level library was provided by a 2006 Vancouver bond measure.
Killian Pacific has invested more than $3.4 million in the Riverwest project, and will continue with site preparation for the development.
