US prosecutors have urged a judge to send the former chairman of bankrupt Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp to prison for the rest of his life for masterminding the $2.9 billion fraud scheme that took down the company.
Lee Farkas, 58, was convicted in April on 14 counts of conspiracy, bank, securities and wire fraud as part of the scheme in which he used some of the proceeds to live a lavish lifestyle with a jet and collection of antique cars.
Prosecutors said in a court filing on Thursday that the statutory maximum was 385 years and they urged District Judge Leonie Brinkema to sentence him to at least 50 years to ensure that Farkas spends the rest of his life in prison. "The nature, duration, and scope of Farkas's criminal acts warrant maximum punishment for maximum deterrence," they said. Sentencing is scheduled for Thursday. The fraud began in 2002 and ran until TBW filed for bankruptcy in August 2009. The mortgage giant's collapse was a major contributing factor to the implosion of one of the largest US regional banks, Colonial Bank.