Opinion ID: 766939
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The View (Count 77)

Text: 21 The last scheme involved Neder's misrepresentations about the amount of debt to be refinanced as part of a $4.7 million development loan he sought from Central Bank of the South (Central Bank) for a project named The View. In December 1987, Neder met with Central Bank's loan officer about this loan. The only mortgage on The View property at that time was a $847,500 land acquisition loan from Carteret Federal Savings and Loan. 22 Subsequently, Neder had his attorney prepare a promissory note and mortgage deed purporting to create a $280,000 second mortgage on The View. On January 21, 1988, Neder signed the deed and promissory note as mortgagor, and the documents were recorded by an attorney from Neder's law firm. This second mortgage was in favor of a trust; however, the person named as the trustee testified that he had never entered a trust agreement with Neder and knew nothing about either the mortgage deed or the $280,000 promissory note. 23 In February 1988, Neder's application for the $4.7 million loan was approved by Central Bank, which sent a commitment letter to Neder. In March 1988, Neder signed the commitment letter and returned it, along with a letter conditioning his acceptance on receiving a total of $1,130,000 to pay off the existing $847,500 mortgage, as well as the purported $280,000 mortgage. Central Bank's loan officer agreed to Neder's condition. However, the loan never actually closed. Central Bank required Neder's attorney to sign an opinion letter certifying that there had been no material, adverse change in Neder's financial condition, and Neder's attorney refused to do so. Because Neder took no further steps to close the loan, Central Bank treated the loan application as abandoned.