FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A South Florida real estate broker was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for three separate fraud convictions totaling more than $5 million.
A federal judge imposed the sentence Tuesday on 44-year-old Christopher Wayne White of Fort Lauderdale. White was also ordered to pay more than $4 million in restitution.
Two of the cases involved wire fraud convictions for false real estate transactions, including one in which White admitted he refused to return some $750,000 in deposits to people seeking to buy properties. In the other case, White made a number of false statements to obtain a $4.9 million loan to buy a luxury home. In the third case, White admitted making a number of false statements on an application to become a naturalized U.S. citizen.
