Crisp & Cole defendants have court hearing
By THE BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN
Ten people connected to Crisp & Cole Real Estate, including principals David Crisp and Carl Cole, had a hearing Friday in front of the judge who will hear their case in federal court.
For all but Cole, it was their first time in front of Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill.
All the suspects in the high-profile federal mortgage fraud case will appear in court again May 20 in the Eastern California district of U.S. District Court in Fresno, but some have additional hearings before then.
Crisp and former loan officer Jayson Costa are the only two suspects in the case who remain in custody since federal indictments against them were unsealed Jan. 21. The rest are free on bail.
Cole had previously been before O'Neill for a bond hearing. On Friday the hearing was continued to Feb. 18 in light of new information about $70,000 he has in a bank account. Authorities have previously expressed concern that Cole might be a flight risk.
Crisp has a detention hearing set for Wednesday.
The 10 suspects have been charged with fraud, money laundering and conspiracy, and five others have accepted plea deals for fraud and aiding and abetting.
Prosecutors allege the company used straw buyers to purchase homes and flip them at inflated prices. The alleged crimes cost the mortgage industry at least $20 million, the U.S. Attorney's Office said, although most industry professionals say that figure is low.
Meanwhile:
* Sneha Mohammadi and Michael Munoz have hearings set for March 18 on a conflict of interest matter. Authorities declined to provide details on the nature of the conflict.
* Costa's detention hearing is set for Monday.
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