5 to forfeit millions in Provo mortgage scam

Five defendants in a multimillion-dollar mortgage scam in a ritzy Provo neighborhood will forfeit millions of dollars in order to repay victims of the scheme.

Four of the five men signed stipulations regarding forfeiture and restitution, which were filed in U.S. District Court Monday.

The stipulations say that David R. Bolick and Steven Wells Cloward will each pay a money judgment of $5,506,000. Ron K. Clarke will pay $5,406,000 and Jeffery David Garrett will pay $100,000, according to the stipulations.

During a forfeiture hearing Monday, prosecutors said that the fifth man, Bradley Grant Kitchen, has signed a stipulation as well, and it will be filed in court within the next few days.

Last July, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging the defendants with a variety of different fraud counts. By the end of August, all of the five men had pleaded guilty to reduced charges as part of plea agreements arranged with prosecutors.

Kitchen, Bolick and Cloward all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, while Garrett and Clarke each pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

The men were among six people accused of conspiring to secure a series of fraudulent loans on properties for which they greatly inflated the market values with false appraisals. Proceeds from the loans obtained through "straw buyers" totaling at least $18 million were diverted to participants in the scam, according to court documents. Charges against the sixth defendant were later dropped.

The properties were located in the upscale Provo Riverbottoms neighborhood.

The indictment was the first product of the Utah Mortgage Fraud Task Force, a federal, state and local law enforcement network formed in 2007.

The men are scheduled to be sentenced next week.

E-MAIL: ethomas@desnews.com