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CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 24 (UPI) -- A real estate lawyer went on trial in North Carolina this week on charges of helping in a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme.
During opening statements Monday in federal court in Charlotte, prosecutors described Victoria Sprouse as an active participant in the fraud, The Charlotte Observer reported. Her lawyers described her as a victim who failed to keep a close eye on her practice as it grew.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kurt Meyers told a jury that Sprouse increased her fees more than five-fold through her involvement in the fraud, from $1,800 a day to $10,000 and up. Meyers said that she was involved in three types of fraud, including a scheme to flip properties paid for with mortgages obtained through deception.
Christopher Beechler, Sprouse's lawyer, said that she got a flat fee for each closing while the architects of the scheme made thousands.. He said that her practice grew rapidly after she started it as a young lawyer in the 1990s, and she was not as careful as she should have been.
"She was used, taken advantage of," he said. "She failed to see the scheme of a few greedy con men."
Five people have pleaded guilty to real estate fraud.
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