A federal jury has convicted an Augusta, Georgia man of fraud after he borrowed nearly $3 million to refinance an apartment complex, and then filed for bankruptcy protection upon facing foreclosure.
Jerome Water Kiggundu was found guilty in federal district court of bank and bankruptcy fraud, as well as making false statements under oath, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia. The borrower could face up to 30 years in federal prison followed by a period of supervised release and an order to pay fines and restitution at sentencing.
The defendant “spun a web of financial lies to obtain a loan for millions of dollars, and then compounded those falsehoods by committing bankruptcy fraud and lying under oath,” said David Estes, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
The crime highlights the importance of ensuring the integrity of documentation used by lenders to verify loan information at a time when fraud, critical mortgage defects and bankruptcy have been on the rise.
The FBI investigation revealed that Kiggundu, as the registered agent of limited liability company Nakaddu (also known as Kiggun Properties), borrowed more than $2.83 million from an unnamed mortgage lender in March 2019 based on fraudulent bank statements misrepresenting his company’s average monthly operating balance to be around $100,000 rather than $500, according to court documents. After he subsequently filed for foreclosure, Kiggundu submitted another set of fraudulent bank statements and lied under oath about his finances when questioned.
“No matter how elaborate or complicated the fraud scheme, the FBI will work to uncover it,” said Chris Hacker, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Atlanta office, in the press release.
