Businessman walks free from court despite [pounds sterling]750,000 mortgage fraud; Paul Casey, who obtained eight mortgages under false pretences in a buy to let scam, was spared prison at Newcastle Crown Court.
Byline: Rob Kennedy
A businessman who carried out a [pounds sterling]750,000 mortgage fraud has walked free from court.
Paul Casey obtained a series of mortgages under false pretences in a buy to let scam.
A court heard he lied about his earnings in order to secure the loans, claiming he was on up to [pounds sterling]95,000-a-year while at times only declaring earnings of [pounds sterling]6,000 to the tax man.
Over a period of four years he got eight mortgages - two in relation to his family home and the rest on properties he bought for his lettings business.
Now, the 43-year-old, from Sunderland, has been given a suspended prison sentence at Newcastle Crown Court after he admitted eight fraud charges, between 2004 and 2008.
Recorder Nicholas Lumley QC said Casey had shown a "cavalier attitude" towards tenants, whose homes were put at risk.
The judge said: "Those were different days perhaps, when the banks took risks and those wanting to obtain a mortgage could fill in the blanks on the forms with abandon.
"In 2004 you did such a thing, you obtained an application for a mortgage in which you lied about your earnings.
"Having got away with it the first time, you did it again and again.
"You had no regard for the potential consequences of your conduct, no doubt you thought if things went wrong, you could sell up and everything would be alright.
"Banks were exposed, by you, to substantial risk.
"Banks and people who work for them, normal people doing normal jobs, are put at risk by people like you."
Prosecutor Vince Ward told the court the fraud was a "simple enough plan to lie to mortgage companies about earnings" over a prolonged period of time.
Mr Ward said one of the mortgages and a remortgage related to Casey's family home and the other properties were purchased for his lettings business.
Casey submitted on application forms that he was earning annual figures of up to [pounds sterling]95,000 from his solarium company but one year declared as little as [pounds sterling]6,217 salary on tax forms.
The court heard although some of the properties are now in negative equity and one has since been repossessed and sold, prosecutors estimate there would still be around [pounds sterling]300,000 available after sales and Casey will be pursued under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Casey, of North View, Sunderland...
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