ALEXANDRIA, Va. – An executive convicted of orchestrating a nearly $3 billion fraud as chairman of one of America’s largest private mortgage companies was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison by a judge who accused him of lacking remorse.
The case against Lee B. Farkas, former chairman of Florida-based Taylor Bean Whitaker, is one of the largest prosecutions arising from the nation’s financial crisis. The fraud spanned more than seven years, put thousands of employees out of work and contributed to the collapse of Colonial Bank, which authorities described as the sixth-largest bank failure in U.S. history.
“He deserves to be punished severely in light of the enormity of his crimes. The losses from this case are, in fact, off the charts,” Patrick Stokes, a federal fraud prosecutor, said in urging a judge to send Farkas, 58, to prison for the rest of his life.
Farkas, who denied any wrongdoing when
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