Woman gets prison for mortgage loan fraud

A Las Vegas woman was sentenced Wednesday to 27 months in prison for submitting fraudulent mortgage loan applications in 2004 and 2005.

Gail Bilyeu, 54, pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and six counts of wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson sentenced her to prison and ordered her to pay about $1 million in restitution to five federally insured financial institutions.

Bilyeu was indicted in November 2009 with Malcolm Childress, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was sentenced in September to 15 months in prison.

Childress was ordered to pay about $964,000 in restitution and to forfeit $2.6 million to the government.

According to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office, Bilyeu recruited and paid straw buyers to purchase homes in Las Vegas. The buyers did not intend to occupy the homes.

Bilyeu caused false information to be included on the straw buyers' loan applications, making it possible for the straw buyers to qualify for loans. She and Childress sent six mortgage loan applications to financial institutions. The loans totaled about $2.6 million.