Raleigh Real Estate Developer Sentenced To 30 Months In Prison For His Role In Mortgage Fraud Scheme

RALEIGH – United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court today before Chief United States District Judge James C. Dever, III, HOWARD GOLDSMITH, 41, of Raleigh, was sentenced to a 30 month term of imprisonment, and followed by 3 years of supervised release, on a charge of Conspiracy to Commit Wire and Bank Fraud.  GOLDSMITH was also ordered to pay $808,025 in restitution and to forfeit $1,050,400.50 and 9 properties located in Wake and Durham counties.

Count One of the Criminal Information charged that between August of 2006 and February of 2009, GOLDSMITH and his conspirators carried out a fraud upon various banks and lenders using entities GOLDSMITH owned or controlled, including Ganyard Farm Construction and Baldwin Estates.  After developing various properties through Ganyard Farm Construction and Baldwin Estates, GOLDSMITH and others fraudulently supplied down payment funds to unqualified buyers on numerous loans.  The fraudulent down payments were not identified on the HUD-1 Settlement Statements that were supplied to the lenders at the time of closing.  GOLDSMITH and others also paid kickbacks to various individuals who assisted in orchestrating the transactions.

Investigation of this case was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of the Inspector General, with the assistance of the Raleigh Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney William M. Gilmore represented the United States.