Reverse Mortgage Scammer Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison

A Chicago real estate scammer was sentenced to more than 17 years in federal prison for orchestrating a reverse mortgage and home repair scheme that defrauded over 100 elderly property owners.

Mark Steven Diamond, 68, targeted vulnerable seniors in the Chicago area, exploiting the equity in their homes and their lack of financial expertise, Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual said.

Prosecutors said Diamond tricked homeowners into applying for reverse mortgage loans by misrepresenting documents as necessary for repair work. Once the loans were approved, Diamond pocketed the funds and often failed to perform the promised repairs.

Diamond pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud affecting a financial institution. U.S. District Judge Franklin U. Valderrama sentenced him to 205 months in prison and ordered him to pay $2.7 million in restitution.

“Mark Diamond repeatedly preyed on the elderly for years,” Pasqual said. “He damaged the most vulnerable in our community, both financially and personally. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable anyone who seeks to deceive elderly homeowners through fraud.”

This sentencing follows a long history of allegations against Diamond. In 2017, he pleaded not guilty to charges of stealing $7 million from elderly homeowners in a similar reverse mortgage scam. Even while awaiting trial, prosecutors alleged Diamond continued bilking seniors, leading to his re-arrest in 2023.

Reverend Robin Hood, whose late aunt was one of Diamond’s victims, described him in 2023 as “the perfect predator of senior citizens.”

Court documents reveal Diamond manipulated victims into taking out multiple loans, including one case where an elderly woman lost $762,000.

Diamond’s co-conspirators — loan originators Gary Bohn and Matthew Fefferman, employee Cynthia Wallace and title agency owner Forrest C. Fawcett — have all pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

“This was devastating to generations. This is generational wealth being robbed,” Rev. Hood previously said.