Va panel hears mortgage exec’s appeal
May 16, 2012, 4:39 PM
Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – A former mortgage company chief executive convicted of orchestrating a nearly $3 billion fraud scheme is asking a federal appeals panel to reverse his conviction and send his case back for a retrial.
An attorney for former Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. CEO Lee Farkas told a three-judge panel Wednesday that U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema improperly denied his right to effective counsel in rejecting his requests to delay his trial. The attorney contended defense attorneys were denied adequate time to process voluminous documents that would help bolster their client’s case.
Now-defunct, TBW was one of the nation’s largest private mortgage lenders. Farkas was convicted of 14 counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud, sentenced to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay $3.5 billion in restitution.
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