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A Ludlow couple was sentenced to 18 months in prison for a bid-rigging and kickback scheme that defrauded Freddie Mac.
Joanne Murray, 54, and James Murray, 53, were each sentenced on Jan. 30 in Springfield federal court to the 18-month prison terms followed by three years of supervised release. They had pleaded guilty in February 2019 to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and tax evasion.
According to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office, the Murrays, along with others, engaged in a scheme to defraud the Freddie Mac from approximately 2010 through 2015. Joanne worked at a Springfield real estate brokerage, which managed hundreds of foreclosed properties owned by Freddie Mac.
In the scheme, Joanne, James and others agreed to submit fraudulent “reimbursements” by the brokerage to Freddie Mac for James’ company, amounting to approximately $1,372,099 in repair, improvement and maintenance projects, according to the statement. After Freddie Mac paid the purported reimbursements, the brokerage paid James approximately 90 percent of those amounts and retained approximately 10 percent.
To ensure James’ company would win the projects, Joanne would submit to Freddie Mac fraudulent bids for purported competitors. To avoid detection by Freddie Mac, Joanne submitted bids in the name of a friend of the Murrays, without his knowledge, instead of James’ company, for work that was ultimately performed by James’ company.
The Murrays and others also agreed to submit similar fraudulent requests for reimbursement of minor cleaning projects for a relative of James, amounting to approximately $68,960, in exchange for the brokerage’s retention of approximately 10 percent of the relative’s payments.
In addition, from 2012 through 2014, the Murrays evaded payment on outstanding federal tax debts based upon their 2008-2011 tax years by cashing numerous checks from the brokerage totaling approximately $461,030 rather than depositing those checks in their bank accounts. The Murrays also jointly filed an individual federal income tax return in 2014 that under-reported their gross receipts by approximately $151,178.
