ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - The chief financial officer of what had been one of the nation's largest private mortgage companies has pleaded guilty to his role in a $3 billion fraud scheme.
Forty-one-year-old Delton de Armas of Carrollton, Tex., was CFO of Florida-based Taylor Bean and Whitaker up until its collapse in 2009.
On Tuesday de Armas became the eighth person convicted in one of the biggest fraud schemes to emerge from the nation's housing crisis.
He faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading in federal court in Alexandria to conspiracy to commit fraud and making false statements.
The company hid billions of dollars in debts with phony accounting and by double and triple selling mortgages it held to various financial institutions.
Taylor Bean's collapse also helped bring down Alabama-based Colonial Bank.
