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Scottsdale mortgage broker gets 30 months in prison for fraud

A Scottsdale mortgage broker and construction company owner has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and has to pay $110,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to fraud charges. Michele Marie Mitchell, 45, was president of Arizona Cooling Control Plus Inc., according to federal prosecutors. She and an associate, Jeremy West Pratt, used straw buyers and false loan documents to obtain $17 million in loans for 17 different properties across the Valley.

The straw buyers received $15,000 in kickbacks per house. The two defendants pocketed other loan money and the properties went into foreclosure.

Mitchell was sentenced in federal court in Phoenix this week, according to the FBI and IRS. Pratt was sentenced to six months in jail earlier this year. Both Mitchell and Pratt will also have to serve three years of federal probation, respectively.

Phoenix Business Journal by Mike Sunnucks, Senior Reporter Date: Friday, November 30, 2012, 2:55pm MST

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