Having once been accused of mortgage fraud reaching upward of $500 million, prominent regional developer Robert “Bob” Morgan was sentenced Friday to no jail time and no federal parole.
He was also ordered to pay more than $16 million in restitution to resolve the civil and criminal charges against him.
The culmination of what was once touted as one of the region’s largest ever mortgage fraud prosecutions ended with far more questions than answers. Prominent among those questions is: Were serious crimes committed, and, if so, by who?
Morgan and three co-defendants, including his son, were originally accused of swindling banks by falsifying information that secured loans far greater than would otherwise have been given. All three co-defendants pleaded guilty to much lesser fraud-related crimes and their pleas helped ensure they would not be incarcerated.
Morgan developed and purchased apartment buildings across the state and elsewhere, and also was heavily involved with commercial projects in Rochester before his arrest.
Morgan’s son, Todd Morgan, who had been a project manager for the family commercial development companies, also was sentenced Friday and will serve no time. He admitted to submitting false information for a construction loan.
The criminal case was upended by questionable conduct by prosecutors, who did not turn over evidence to the defense and did not conduct a thorough review of digital proof seized in searches of Morgan’s computers. U.S. District Judge…
