FBI agents arrested a Manvel man, his wife and his Katy daughter this morning on conspiracy and wire fraud charges related to an alleged mortage scam.
Claymon “Butch” Trammell, 59, his wife Jeannettea Williams, 54, and daughter Michelle Trammell, were charged in an 11-count federal indictment that was unsealed after their arrests.
The charges relate to a scheme in which mortgage lenders were allegedly defrauded out of loans totaling more than $2.5 million, according to U.S. Attorney Tim Johnson.
Claymon Trammell operated real estate and home repair companies in the Houston area, Johson said. Michelle Trammell operated as a mortgage broker while Jeanettea Williams operated as a real estate agent.
According to the indictment, the three paid people “to use their names and credit on loan applications to buy residential properties, and submitted fraudulent home repair and other invoices to pay themselves from the loan proceeds.”
Michelle Trammell is accused of filling out loan applications for straw buyers, providing false information to lenders about the fictitious buyers’ employment, assets and income.
Jeannettea Williams notarized borrower occupancy affidavits saying the straw buyers intended to occupy the properties as primary residences, “even though she and Clamon Traffell occupied two of the properties,” Johnson’s office said in a statement.
The three were expected to make an initial court appearance this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Calvin Botley.
If convicted, the maximum penalty for conspiracy and wire fraud of a financial institution is 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, Johnson said.
21. July 2009 at 3:31 pm
the problem with their scam is they didn’t do it big enough like AIG, or Madoff or Stanford, very very unexciting.