Three Men Indicted for Elaborate Mortgage Fraud Scheme in Athens

A Clarke County Grand Jury returned a three count racketeering indictment yesterday against Brian C. Dupree, Marc Canty and Rashid Wilson for conspiring to commit theft by fraudulently inflating real estate values in an Athens subdivision development.

The indictment alleges: that between 2003 and 2006, the three men orchestrated a scheme to artificially raise home prices in a new East Athens subdivision developed by Dupree, and then to pay money to so-called investment buyers who purchased the homes. Canty and Wilson participated in the scheme by recruiting buyers for homes, who would often buy three or more homes which they rarely occupied. By 2008, 88 of the 125 homes in the subdivision had been foreclosed and lenders lost in excess of $10 million.

Dupree, Canty, and Wilson were charged with three counts of Racketeering, felonies punishable by five to twenty years imprisonment.

Senior Assistant Attorney General David McLaughlin is prosecuting the case on behalf of the State of Georgia. McLaughlin presented the case to the Clarke County Grand Jury on March 15, 2011, and the Grand Jury returned the indictments the same day in Clarke County Superior Court. The case was investigated by Michael McCauley of the Athens-Clarke County Police Department; the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance; and the Georgia Attorney General’s Office.

Members of the public should keep in mind that indictments contain only allegations against the individual(s) against whom the indictment is sought. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and it will be the government’s burden at trial to prove the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the allegations contained in the indictment.