A Savannah man who concocted a schemed to enrich himself by repeatedly borrowing money against the same pieces of property will go to prison for fraud.
Christopher Grooms, 41, pleaded guilty to an Information charging him with wire fraud. U.S. District Court Judge R. Stan Baker sentenced Grooms to 33 months in federal prison, ordered him to pay $1,645,267.95 in restitution, and a forfeiture money judgment totaling $2,937,881.43, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia David Estes said. After completion of his prison term, Grooms must serve four years of supervised release.
As described in court documents and testimony, Grooms operated several real estate investment companies that acquired and resold real estate. From 2013 to 2018, Grooms devised a scheme in which one of his companies would purchase a property using borrowed funds, and he would then falsify documents to show that the lien against the property had been satisfied. He would then secure additional loans against the property, repeatedly filing fraudulent paperwork to show the property was unencumbered by liens.
Grooms used the scheme at least 24 times for nearly $3 million in fraudulent loans from multiple financial institutions. The properties used in the scheme were located in Georgia cities including Savannah, Hinesville, Glennville, Midway and Allenhurst.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of the Inspector General, the GBI, and the Tattnall County Sheriff’s Office, and prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tara M. Lyons and Asset Recovery Unit Chief Xavier A. Cunningham.