Two months after pleading guilty to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, John O’Day was sentenced by the U.S. District Court of Maryland to eight years in federal prison for defrauding five auto lenders and 20 individual victims in a scheme that racked up more than $1 million in fake auto loan applications.
O’Day has also been ordered to pay a fine of $1.2 million, according to a plea agreement announced by the Department of Justice.
Co-conspirators Denise White and Nigel Broomes — both previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme — are scheduled for sentencing Nov. 15. White and Broomes each face a maximum of 30 years in federal prison.
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According to his plea agreement, O’Day admitted that he laundered the proceeds from his auto loan scheme through the purchase of a home, leveraging his role as a loan officer with a mortgage brokerage company located in Maryland.
O’Day pleaded guilty in August for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft for a scheme that involved submitting 30 fraudulent applications for auto loans to financial institutions falsely listing O’Day as the seller of various vehicles. At least 27 of the fraudulent applications were approved and resulted in the disbursement of loan checks totaling $1,167,192. O’Day deposited the money in his personal bank accounts in Maryland. The scheme ran from April 2016 to January 2018.
White and Broomes personally submitted some of the fraudulent auto loan applications, according to their plea agreements. White also contacted the financial institutions under false pretenses in order to get the applications approved.
