Ex-IRS Employee Arrested in Mortgage Fraud Scheme

An accounting firm owner and former IRS employee was arrested and charged with running a mortgage fraud scheme involving fake buyers of homes.

Cedric Nelson, 51, the owner of Certified Bookkeeping in Las Vegas, was arrested Tuesday and charged with two counts of wire fraud.

Nelson allegedly recruited straw buyers of homes who would apply for mortgage loans using fraudulent information about their income, employment status, assets, and intention to live in the homes, according to federal prosecutors.

In one case, he bought a home in Las Vegas in August 2006 for $590,990 using false information and then sold the home about seven months later to a straw buyer for $900,000 on the basis of false information in the buyer’s mortgage loan application, according to the Las Vegas Sun. Nelson allegedly earned about $90,000 on that sale.

Nelson was indicted on May 25 by a federal grand jury, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, but the indictment was sealedd until he was arrested Tuesday.

He faces a maximum of 20 years in jail and a fine of $250,000 on each of the two counts if he is convicted.

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