Burlington Real Estate Consultant Sentenced to 20 Months in Prison

CAMDEN, NJ—A real estate consultant was sentenced today to 20 months in prison for helping five people defraud banks by obtaining multiple home equity loans on the same property, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
William Barksdale, 47, of Burlington, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Judge Kugler imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Barksdale was the owner of Barksdale Business Group, Barksdale Investment Properties, and Barksdale Loan Consultants. He devised a scheme to obtain multiple home equity lines of credit on a single home for more than the property was worth. A homeowner would submit loan applications to several lenders simultaneously without advising each lender about the other applications. Any bank conducting a title search would receive a clean title report because the other home equity lines of credit had not yet been recorded.
Barksdale advised five people to secure multiple home equity loans using his scheme, and each obtained at least three home equity loans on a single property. One individual obtained seven home equity loans on one home. Each person paid Barksdale a portion of the fraudulent proceeds. Many of the home equity loans later went into default. The scheme caused more than $1 million in losses.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Kugler sentenced Barksdale to five years of supervised release. A restitution hearing will be held at a later date.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited agents of the FBI’s Trenton Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford, and agents of the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, under the leadership of Director Elie Honig, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney R. David Walk, Jr. of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.