Prominent local attorney Dean A. Zabriskie is in need of legal counsel himself this week, after the filing of felony fraud charges against him in connection with the Federal Mortgage Corp. scam.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey M. Harris, vice president of Federal Mortgage, who last month received a suspended prison sentence, was bound over Wednesday to 4th District Court for arraignment Aug. 4 on new charges. Harris is charged with two counts of fraudulent use of a credit card on July 6 while on work release from Utah County Jail, where he is serving a six-month sentence.Earlier this year, Zabriskie served as attorney for Harris and his brother Craig, president of Federal Mortgage, who was sentenced to one to 15 years in the state prison for his part in the scam. The brothers pleaded guilty in May to a litany of charges stemming from a racketeering enterprise in which lenders, borrowers and investors were bilked out of millions of dollars between March 1987 and April 1989.
Zabriskie is charged with theft by deception or communications fraud for allegedly making a loan application under false pretense. The Utah County attorney's office will decide later which of the charges, both second-degree felonies, is more appropriate.
Zabriskie also faces a related charge of making a false credit report to fraudulently borrow money.