Former HUD agent faces fraud charges

A former Department of Housing and Urban Development special agent living in Layton was arrested Thursday, a day after a federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment against him.

Mark David Viau, 41, is charged with two counts of making a false statement to federal authorities and one count of bank fraud.

The indictment, which was returned Wednesday and unsealed a day later, accuses Viau of failing to report in a 2005 financial disclosure form that he held a job outside his duties as a federal agent. On the same form, Viau failed to report he conducted real estate business dealings, according to a statement for the U.S. Attorney for Arizona.

Viau also devised a scheme to defraud a bank by obtaining a mortgage for a second home and then renting the residence, according to the charges.

Viau, a former special agent of the Office of Inspector General, appeared in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City on Thursday. He was released pending his trial, which was set for Dec. 29.

— Aaron Falk