Sentencing Pending for Former Florida Judge After Guilty Plea for Mortgage Fraud
A former Florida appeals court judge pleaded guilty to defrauding a bank that loaned him money to purchase a residence in Hawaii and is now awaiting sentencing. Criminal charges alleged that Thomas Stringer, a former judge in the Florida Second District Court of Appeals, falsified his mortgage application by falsely stating that he had not borrowed any funds used for the down payment. The Tampa Bay Business Journal reported that, although Stringer faces up to 30 years in federal prison for the offense, because no one sustained a loss in the commission of the crime, he is expected to receive a non-custodial sentence and forfeiture of the $222,362 in loan proceeds from the fraud.
