Mortgage Banker, Attorney Sentenced

Maryland scheme involved paying salary to wife who did no work
By SAM GARCIA
1/31/2002

An Owings Mills, Maryland mortgage banker was sentenced earlier this month in a case that alleged he and another defendant defrauded two lenders of over $8.5 million. The sentence was the result of his plea to participating in the scheme from July 1997 through August 2000. The other defendant in the case, which was investigated by the Baltimore FBI office, was sentenced last month.

According to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the defendants in the case are Kent E. Baklor, 43, the owner of Bankers First Mortgage Company, and Christopher Trikeriotis, age 48, an Owings Mills attorney. Both were charged with one count of bank fraud for participating in the scheme.

The DOJ alleges that Bankers First obtained advance funding to make loans on lines of credit from Sovereign Bank, of Wyomissing, Pa., and National Mortgage Warehouse, LLC, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Funds were wire transferred to an account at the attorney's title company in Reisterstown, Maryland, which was supposed to handle the settlements on the loans. The DOJ said both defendants admitted that Bankers First requested advances for fictitious loans, and that when the funds were transferred to the title company, it then transferred the funds to Bankers First without holding any settlements. Baklor allegedly admitted that Bankers First obtained approximately $8.5 million from the two lenders for nonexistent loans.

An earlier DOJ announcement said the attorney admitted he initially earned $500 monthly on retainer from Bankers First, but that amount escalated to $12,500 over time. In addition, the DOJ said the attorney arranged for Bankers First to pay his current wife a salary that eventually reached $100,000 per year -- even though she was actually never employed -- in an effort to conceal the income from his current wife and avoid paying more child support.

The state of Maryland had the most instances of possible fraud, according to a September announcement from Affinity Corporation. The 'Suspected Fraud Activity Index' reviewed loan submissions from around the U.S. through Affinity's 'Electronic Loan Review' system for the months of June, July and August. Property flipping, identity fraud and loan quality inconsistencies were included in that report.

The attorney was sentenced in December to 2 1/2 years' imprisonment, 3 years' supervised release and $8.5 million in restitution to be paid in $200 monthly installments.

For his part Baklor, the mortgage banker, was sentenced to 21 months' incarceration and three years' supervised release. In addition, Baklor will have to make restitution of more than $6 million, $200 monthly during the period of his supervised release.

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