Former Augusta man sentenced to prison for multi-million-dollar scheme to defraud a mortgage lender

AUGUSTA, GA:  A former Richmond County man has been sentenced to federal jail for financial institution and chapter fraud associated to his buy of an Augusta condo complicated.

Jerome Walter Kiggundu, 38, now a resident of Commerce Metropolis, Colo., was sentenced to 48 months in jail after his conviction in a jury trial in December 2021 on fees of Financial institution Fraud, Chapter Fraud, and False Statements Below Oath, stated David H. Estes, U.S. Lawyer for the Southern District of Georgia. U.S. District Courtroom Chief Decide J. Randal Corridor additionally fined Kiggundu $2,500 and ordered him to serve three years of supervised launch after completion of his jail time period.

There isn’t a parole within the federal system.

“Monetary fraud prices everybody – not simply the establishments who’re the fast victims, however everybody who participates within the free market and sees their prices improve to make up what fraudsters steal,” stated U.S. Lawyer Estes. “Jerome Kiggundu’s sentence ought to ship an unmistakable message that our workplace and our regulation enforcement companions will relentlessly pursue such criminals and maintain them accountable.”

As described in court docket paperwork and testimony, Kiggundu was the registered agent and managing member of Nakaddu LLC, a/okay/a Kiggun Properties LLC, and borrowed $2,831,250 from a mortgage lender in March 2019 by submitting fraudulent financial institution statements to falsely declare that his firm had a median month-to-month working stability of roughly $100,000. Throughout this era, his account truly had a median stability of roughly $500. Kiggundu additionally submitted a false private monetary assertion overstating his web price and property to qualify for the mortgage, which he used to refinance an 80-unit condo complicated that the corporate owned at 405 Hale St., in Augusta.

When the scheme began to unravel, Kiggundu filed for chapter safety beneath Chapter 11 to keep away from foreclosures by the lender. Kiggundu then submitted one other set of faux financial institution statements in his chapter proceedings to hide his financial institution fraud, and lied beneath oath about his funds when questioned by staff of america Trustee Program who suspected this fraud.

“Kiggundu’s in depth fraud scheme was motivated purely by private greed,” stated Keri Farley, Particular Agent in Cost of FBI Atlanta.  “This sentence serves as a warning to others that the FBI won’t let such lies go unchecked.”

The case was investigated by the FBI with help from america Trustees Program, and prosecuted for america by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick J. Schwedler and Jennifer A. Stanley.