Palos Park Lawyer Gets 9 Years For Mortgage Fraud Scheme

A Palos Park lawyer was sentenced Wednesday in federal court for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme involving over 40 homes in the Englewood area. 

, 50, of Palos Park, faces nine years in jail and was forced to forfeit more than $2.3 million and pay restitution of more than $1.3 million, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago.

Farano and three others were convicted in December 2011 of multiple counts of mail and wire fraud for their parts in a scheme that netted about $5.45 million in fraudulently obtained mortgage loan proceeds, according to a press release. 

Farano was convicted of four counts of mail and wire fraud and five counts of theft of government funds. His law license had already been suspended. 

Also sentenced were Charles Murphy, 65, of Chicago; Robert Brunt, 45, of Chicago and Tracey Scullark, 44, of Chicago. 

According to the U.S. attorney's office, the scheme worked like this:

• Between 2002 and 2006 the group acquired over 40 residences in economically-depressed areas, mostly in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago.
• The properties were in need of extensive repair and they had the intent of reselling the properties at "grossly inflated" prices. 
• They acquired many of these properties by using kickbacks to a then non-profit organization, Westwood Community Development, that was eligible to purchase the properties at a discount provided the homes were sold to low-to-moderate income families. 
• Instead, the homes were sold to buyers who did not intend to reside in them and qualified for financing "based on false statements about their qualifications and false statements about the condition" of the homes. 
• Buyers were enticed by "no money down" and "cash back at closing" promises.
• The buyers were given false appraisals and cosmetic work was done to hide the true condition of the homes. 
• The lenders who financed those buyers did so based on false representations of the homes' condition and of how much money was put down. 

Farano will begin serving his sentence on Sept. 10. The full release is attached to this article. 

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