Lamenting that the billions being paid to bail out failed savings and loans could have alleviated poverty and homelessness, a judge sentenced a former securities broker to 15 years in prison and ordered him to repay nearly half the $144 million in losses from a mortgage loan scheme.
U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian imposed the sentence and $70.7 million in restitution Monday on David Feldman, 50, a Vietnam War veteran and top graduate of the U.S. Military Academy. The penalty is believed to be the largest ever ordered of an individual in an S&L fraud case.The restitution will be paid to Bank of America, which was trustee for most of the mortgage loans in the scheme, and absorbed the most losses, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon McCaslin said.
"It's time to pay the piper," Tevrizian said, adding Feldman's scheme was typical of the frauds that triggered the nation's multibillion-dollar savings and loan crisis.
Feldman, a resident of Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., was convicted June 8 on three counts of mail fraud, and acquitted of two other mail fraud counts.