By Karen Zautyk
NEWARK – A Belleville woman, employed part-time as a court clerk at the Essex County Courthouse, has pleaded guilty in a mortgage fraud scheme that targeted Wells Fargo Bank, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman reported last week.
The defendant, Kim S. Morris (a/k/a Kim Morris-Burchell), 42, entered the plea Thursday before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Federal Court in Newark, admitting to one count of bank fraud and one count of “structuring” money orders to evade transaction reporting and identification requirements.
According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Morris applied for a $624,000 mortgage loan from Wells Fargo Bank in January 2008 to purchase a property in Upper Montclair.
The application, which was approved, contained “material misrepresentations,” including inflating her personal income and falsifying the name of her employer.
From March 2008 through June 2009, Morris purchased approximately 110 postal and commercial money orders, in amounts ranging from $124 to $1,000 and totaling $84,855.
Although these were sent to Wells Fargo, the “structuring” of the purchases was done
with the intent of evading reporting and identification requirements. “Financial institutions record certain information and verify identification whenever they issue or sell a money order for $3,000 or more in currency,” court documents noted.
Morris reportedly stopped making payments in June 2009.
Morris faces a maximum of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine on the bank fraud conspiracy count. The structuring count carries a potential five-year prison term and a $250,000 fine.
Sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 14.
Fishman credited U.S. Postal Inspectors, under the direction of Philip R. Bartlett of the Newark Division; special agents with the DEA, under the direction of Brian R. Crowell in Newark; and special agents with IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Victor W. Lessoff in Newark, with the investigation leading to the guilty plea.
