Charles Elliott Fitzgerald, 48,was ordered to pay $42.7 million in restitution at his sentencing today in federal court in Los Angeles

Charles Elliott Fitzgerald, 48,was ordered to pay $42.7 million in restitution at his sentencing today in federal court in Los Angeles. Fitzgerald was the seventh person to plead guilty in the investigation, U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien said in a statement. Three other defendants are awaiting trial and one has agreed to plead guilty, O'Brien said. This is not a case about deregulation or exploiting loopholes,'' U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson said at today's hearing. ``This is a case of good old-fashioned lying and cheating.'' Fitzgerald fled to the Pacific island nation of Samoa in 2003, after he was sued by two of the banks he defrauded, O'Brien said in his statement. He was deported in 2006 and has been custody since then. Fitzgerald and the co-conspirators obtained inflated mortgage loans on homes in Beverly Hills, Malibu and other wealthy communities in Southern California, using falsified purchase contracts and appraisals. Lehman Brothers Bank funded more than 80inflated loans from 2000 into 2003, O'Brien said. Bernard Rosen, Fitzgerald's lawyer, said in a phone interview that he had hoped for a 10-year sentence, the statutory minimum.

Charles Elliott Fitzgerald, 48,was ordered to pay $42.7 million in restitution at his sentencing today in federal court in Los Angeles

Charles Elliott Fitzgerald, 48,was ordered to pay $42.7 million in restitution at his sentencing today in federal court in Los Angeles. Fitz...

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