Mastermind of Las Vegas mortgage fraud sentenced to federal prison

A former Las Vegas real estate agent was sentenced to nearly 22 years in federal prison Friday as the mastermind of a mortgage fraud scheme that cost financial institutions more than
$24 million.

Brett Depue, 38, who enlisted his friends and family members in the massive conspiracy, also was ordered to serve five years of supervised release after he gets out of prison.

Senior U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt told Depue that he also will have to pay
$1.6 million in restitution and stay away from people in the mortgage and real estate businesses while on probation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Griswold said 102 homes in the Las Vegas Valley were fraudulently bought during Depue's scheme to defraud the federally insured banks between 2005 and 2007. The mortgages totaled roughly $53 million.

Griswold said Depue, who is in federal custody, acknowledged making as much as $13 million off the scheme through his investment companies. More than a dozen people participated in the conspiracy, and nine co-defendants pleaded guilty.

Depue, who now lives in Gilbert, Ariz., was convicted in March on conspiracy and wire fraud charges after a seven-day trial. He represented himself during the trial and at Friday's sentencing.

While waiting in court, a smiling Depue, dressed in yellow jail garb and chains, engaged family members in the audience several times, once blowing them a kiss.

When Hunt gave him a chance to speak, he showed no remorse and accused the judge, prosecutors and his own standby attorney of conspiring to deny him a fair trial. Depue told Hunt that he was the victim of a "travesty of justice" and that the government's case against him was a "house of cards."

He predicted he would win his appeal, and then he said he planned to go to the media and expose those who had "schemed" against him.

Depue also told Hunt that sending him to prison amounted to a "death sentence." He said he had survived being poisoned five times while in federal custody as he fought the charges against him. He did not identify those he claimed had conspired to kill him.

Hunt was not impressed with Depue's claims, as he handed down the stiff prison term.

"Your aim obviously was for self-enrichment," said Hunt, who suggested Depue has yet to understand the wrong that he committed.

Hunt said it was "impossible to calculate" the economic harm in Southern Nevada from Depue's mortgage fraud scheme. He said there were untold victims, including Depue's own family members, throughout the community.

According to prosecutors, the scheme involved recruiting straw buyers, typically friends or relatives with good credit, to buy homes that they had no intent to occupy. Depue used his parents as straw buyers and his wife, Rachel to help recruit straw buyers.

He directed co-conspirators to prepare mortgage applications containing false information so that the straw buyers could qualify for the loans, prosecutors alleged. Then, he put renters in the properties and, after a period of time, sold the properties for a profit.

Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden attended Depue's sentencing and afterward issued a statement touting his office's campaign against mortgage fraud. The FBI led the investigation.

"Since the inception of our mortgage fraud program in the spring of 2008, we have charged over 200 persons with mortgage fraud crimes," Bogden said. "Most of them have been convicted, and the rest are pending trial.

"We are continuing to work with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners to investigate and bring to justice the persons who are taking advantage of the housing crisis in Nevada to defraud financial institutions, distressed homeowners, and homebuyers."

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.