Naples bank manager pleads guilty in mortgage fraud case

A 43-year-old former Wachovia Bank branch manager who helped a Naples couple obtain three mortgages for $2.27 million has accepted a plea deal in return for leniency, admitting she didn't bother to verify their faked, inflated bank balances. Debra Landberg, 43, who was a branch manager at Wachovia Bank on Airport-Pulling Road, agreed to plead guilty to aiding and abetting Scott Fawcett, 29, a former Naples contractor, and his wife, Heather Fawcett, 28, a model, to influence Bank United into providing them with a $388,000 loan in July 2006. Landberg, who lost her job, admitted failing to perform due diligence or being indifferent by not checking the couple's false statements. She also admitted her actions influenced the bank into providing a mortgage loan without verifying it. Posted in: Internal Fraud