A Kellogg man will appear in federal court today on charges of wire fraud and making a false statement to a financial institution.
The U.S. Department of Justice released the charges Wednesday against 37-year-old Jason Kibbee alleging that while he was the employee of a mortgage brokerage, the defendant kept money paid by a homeowner who was in foreclosure instead of putting those funds against the client’s mortgage. Details on the exact agency where Kibbee was employed and the time frame of the alleged actions have yet to be released by the justice department.
U.S. Attorney for Iowa’s Southern District Nicholas Klinefeldt also is charging that Kibbee forged documents in connections with real estate transactions, used a disabled relative as a straw buyer and made false statements. The justice department says that the defendant also owned a company that assisted distressed borrowers with their mortgage loans at the time of the alleged offenses.
According to the press release, the forged documents were connected to real estate transactions that Kibbee claims would have helped a homeowner who was in foreclosure.
Kibbee’s 2 p.m. appearance in U.S. court in Des Moines will be in conjunction with four other Iowans that the Justice Department recently indited with charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. If convicted, the Kellogg resident could serve up to 30 years in prison and pay a fine up to $1 million for each count of the indictment.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation was assisted by the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and the Iowa Division of Banking during the early stages of Kibbee’s case.