Federal prosecutors have asked for lenient sentences for two defendants associated with Brandon Barber, a former Fayetteville real estate agent who pleaded guilty last year to fraud and money laundering involving more than $30 million.
Jeff Whorton of Springdale pleaded guilty in August 2013 to charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering in the scheme with Barber. And Brandon Rains of Fayetteville pleaded guilty in November to lying to federal agents.
Sentencing hearings are scheduled in federal court in Fort Smith for Barber on Tuesday, Whorton on Nov. 5 and Rains on Nov. 6.
In motions filed Wednesday in federal court in Fayetteville, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Elser asked U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III to vary from sentencing guidelines because Whorton and Rains cooperated with federal prosecutors.
Elser asked the judge to consider a sentence of 12 to 18 months in prison for Whorton and zero to six months for Rains.
In a court filing earlier this month, Whorton's attorney, W.H. Taylor of Fayetteville, requested home detention for his client, stating that Whorton was in poor health and has had two kidney transplants.
According to court documents, Barber approached Whorton in 2008 wanting Whorton to buy his house. Barber worked up a deal in which Whorton would sell Executive Plaza, a Springdale shopping center, and his house and buy Barber's house. Bank loans would be sought at favorable interest rates for the transactions.
Barber told Whorton that money from the deal would be kicked back to Rains and Gary Combs, who is now deceased.
Federal prosecutors have filed a sentencing memorandum for another Barber co-defendant, but they haven't requested a more lenient sentence for him. James Van Doren of New York City pleaded guilty in August 2013 to one count of money laundering in connection with Barber.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled in federal court in Fort Smith for Van Doren on Nov. 3.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wulff filed a sentencing memorandum Oct. 10 asking Holmes to follow federal guidelines when sentencing Van Doren, who was an attorney for Barber. The filing didn't reveal what had been in the pre-sentencing report.
Van Doren will ask for a more lenient sentence, according to an Oct. 13 court filing by his attorney, Gary Corum of Little Rock.
Van Doren pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering that accused him of giving Barber $20,000 from a $64,000 check Barber had signed over to him, the government alleged, to help Barber hide his assets from his creditors.
Van Doren later asked the court to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming he was not truthful when he admitted to the money-laundering charge, but the judge denied that request.
K. Vaughn Knight of Fayetteville, another co-defendant, was found guilty Nov. 18 by a federal jury in Fort Smith on charges of bankruptcy fraud, conspiracy to commit bankruptcy fraud, aiding and abetting in making false statements, and five counts of money laundering.
On June 10, Holmes ordered that Knight be retried on charges of bankruptcy fraud, conspiracy to commit bankruptcy fraud and five counts of money laundering. Holmes acquitted Knight of aiding and abetting in making false statements, writing that "evidence presented at trial was insufficient to sustain a guilty verdict" on that count.
Holmes was critical of the government's case. After sitting through two weeks of trial and viewing a large amount of evidence, the jury took six hours to reach a verdict against Knight, a time period the judge found too short.
FBI agents arrested Barber in New York City on March 20, 2013, and he was charged on 27 counts in two different cases. Most of the charges involved bank and bankruptcy fraud in Arkansas.
On July 31, 2013, Barber pleaded guilty to three federal charges -- conspiracy to commit bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit bankruptcy fraud.
Barber admitted he defrauded banks by lying about the value of real estate to get inflated loans. Barber also admitted that he directed Knight and Van Doren to help him conceal and disguise income and funds.
Federal prosecutors have asked for a sentence between 11 years, three months, and 14 years for Barber. Barber's attorney, Asa Hutchinson III, has asked for a sentence of no more than five years in prison.
NW News on 10/24/2014