Opinion ID: 858806
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Background and Trial

Text: From 2002 to 2008, Garry and Yvonne owned and operated Progressive Real Estate of Broward, Inc. (PREB). 4 During the approximately four-week trial, the government presented more than sixty witnesses in its case-in-chief, twelve rebuttal witnesses, and introduced hundreds of documents, such as Uniform Residential Loan Applications (URLAs, also called Form 1003s) and settlement 3 Yvonne’s jury verdict form inadvertently omitted count 9 and that count was later dismissed. 4 PREB was also indicted as a corporate defendant but the charges were dismissed by the district court on the government’s request prior to trial. 4 Case: 10-11579 Date Filed: 04/23/2013 Page: 5 of 56 statements (also known as HUD-1s). The government’s witnesses included more than half a dozen cocaine traffickers who were clients of the defendants’ real estate business, PREB; title and closing agents who worked on the defendants’ real estate transactions; government investigators; and a variety of other witnesses, such as individuals who acted as straw or nominee purchasers for Garry—all of whom testified about their financial transactions and relationships with the Souffrants. By the time of the Souffrants’ trial, many of the government’s witnesses had already been convicted, were either awaiting sentencing in related cases, or had already been sentenced, and were cooperating with the government’s prosecution against the Souffrants. For example, Tricia Ann Blair and Beverly Linton-Davis, both attorneys who had handled real estate closings for the Souffrants, pleaded guilty and testified against the defendants at trial. Blair pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and mail fraud, and two counts of providing false income tax returns, and was disbarred. Specifically, Blair told the jury that she had pleaded guilty “to providing false information to lending institutions in conspiracy with [Garry]. At [Garry’s] direction and request [Blair] falsified several 1003’s.” Blair identified Garry and Yvonne as her co-conspirators. Blair explained that she began working as a solo practitioner in 2004, and eventually, Garry became her primary client. She testified about several real estate 5 Case: 10-11579 Date Filed: 04/23/2013 Page: 6 of 56 transactions in which Garry purchased real estate for himself or friends and directed Blair to title the properties in the names of a nominee or straw buyer. Further, Blair testified that Garry admitted to her that the property actually belonged to him or to his friends, who were drug dealers and did not want to hold property in their names. Garry also told Blair that he paid nominees to use their names and credit standing on mortgage applications. To this end, Garry directed Blair to prepare mortgage applications for the nominees’ signatures, to falsely state that the nominees had sufficient income to qualify for the loans, and to falsely state that the nominees intended to make the property their primary residences. Rather than pay off existing mortgages at closing, Garry directed Blair to divert the proceeds of ten loans amounting to over $5 million dollars. Defendant Garry testified for three and a half days in his own defense and denied all of the allegations against him. Defendant Neil also testified in his own defense and denied the allegations against him. Yvonne did not testify. As noted, the jury returned mixed verdicts, acquitting Neil of all charges, convicting Garry of most charges, and acquitting Yvonne of all but two charges. After conviction, probation prepared presentence reports.