News
It's been a long time coming for the dozens of victims of former mortgage broker Thomas Hastert.
Nearly three years after investigators raided Hastert's Loan Sense office, Nevada County Superior Court Judge Robert Tamietti sentenced him to seven years in state prison.
After credit for time served and good behavior, it's anticipated Hastert will serve only slightly more than two years of that sentence.
Hastert insisted he was remorseful, but at times cast blame on the economy and the actions of others, and complained that “rumor and gossip and the tabloid media” had hurt his family.
“It has been made painfully obvious to me my actions have caused significant losses,” he said. “It was never my intent to defraud. I have never personally benefited.”
Hastert said he should have been more diligent, saying, “I mistakenly relied on the expertise of others ... and failed to adequately supervise my borrowers.”
Hastert also said he “exhausted” himself servicing his loans and had paid expenses out of his own pocket on occasion instead of walking away.
“This case is not about self-interest, greed or fraud,” Hastert told Tamietti, calling himself an honest, God-fearing man and saying truth had been a frequent casualty in the proceedings against him.
Hastert's victims painted a far different picture of the man who stripped investors of millions of dollars.
Roy Crain, an 86-year-old World War II veteran, invested with Hastert so he could afford help for his son, who has multiple sclerosis.
“He knew how badly I needed the money,” Crain told Tamietti. “He left me in a terrible situation. ... There's no way he didn't know exactly what he was doing.”
Samantha Kaput, the daughter of borrower Melissa Kaput, had many in the audience sniffling when she talked about how Hastert destroyed her family's hopes and dreams.
He is a “greedy, self-serving, pompous, amoral, heartless man,” Kaput said, tearing up.
“It wasn't buyer beware, it was buyer be damned,” said investor Thomas Wilson, who called Hastert a classic sociopath who was “playing a game designed to aggrandize his ego.”
Wilson pointed out that many of Hastert's victims were seniors and said he should have been prosecuted for elder abuse.
“Their golden years are now years of poverty,” he said, “It's a stain on this community.”
Majority of sentence to be served concurrently
Hastert pleaded no contest last year to 63 counts of embezzlement and illegally selling real estate securities after being implicated in about 200 real estate loans from 2004-07.
He used money from investors to give loans to people wanting to build homes in a scheme that State Deputy Attorney General Keith Lyons said was “doomed to failure” and showed intentional recklessness; victims said much of the money never went into legitimate loan accounts.
Hastert also allegedly set up fake straw investors to lead original investors into thinking the loans they supposedly were funding were secure.
In June 2009, Superior Court Judge Sean Dowling rejected a plea agreement that would have given Hastert five years in state prison. He then entered a new plea based on a potential sentence of six to 15 years.
The county probation department had recommended Hastert be sentenced to 13 years. Tamietti opted to give Hastert the upper term on 59 of the counts, to run concurrently, and consecutive sentences on four of the charges, for a total of seven years.
Tamietti also ruled Wednesday that Hastert owes more than $1.5 million to investors, even though he testified at a debtors exam that he no longer has any financial assets other than an estimated $6,000 in a frozen bank account.
Hastert was credited for about two and a half years for time served and good behavior. He likely will serve slightly more than two years actual prison time before being paroled. His court-appointed attorney, Monica Lynch, indicated he would not file an appeal.
Several of Hastert's victims expressed disappointment after the sentencing.
“It is a travesty,” Crain said. “It's not a victory as far as I'm concerned.”
“We're all taught a sentence should be commensurate with the crime,” Wilson said. “Making all the counts concurrent doesn't fit the crime any more. Justice failed us in this regard. He's essentially let off the hook for everything he's done.”
To contact Staff Writer Liz Kellar, e-mail lkellar@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4229.
Nearly three years after investigators raided Hastert's Loan Sense office, Nevada County Superior Court Judge Robert Tamietti sentenced him to seven years in state prison.
After credit for time served and good behavior, it's anticipated Hastert will serve only slightly more than two years of that sentence.
Hastert insisted he was remorseful, but at times cast blame on the economy and the actions of others, and complained that “rumor and gossip and the tabloid media” had hurt his family.
“It has been made painfully obvious to me my actions have caused significant losses,” he said. “It was never my intent to defraud. I have never personally benefited.”
Hastert said he should have been more diligent, saying, “I mistakenly relied on the expertise of others ... and failed to adequately supervise my borrowers.”
Hastert also said he “exhausted” himself servicing his loans and had paid expenses out of his own pocket on occasion instead of walking away.
“This case is not about self-interest, greed or fraud,” Hastert told Tamietti, calling himself an honest, God-fearing man and saying truth had been a frequent casualty in the proceedings against him.
Hastert's victims painted a far different picture of the man who stripped investors of millions of dollars.
Roy Crain, an 86-year-old World War II veteran, invested with Hastert so he could afford help for his son, who has multiple sclerosis.
“He knew how badly I needed the money,” Crain told Tamietti. “He left me in a terrible situation. ... There's no way he didn't know exactly what he was doing.”
Samantha Kaput, the daughter of borrower Melissa Kaput, had many in the audience sniffling when she talked about how Hastert destroyed her family's hopes and dreams.
He is a “greedy, self-serving, pompous, amoral, heartless man,” Kaput said, tearing up.
“It wasn't buyer beware, it was buyer be damned,” said investor Thomas Wilson, who called Hastert a classic sociopath who was “playing a game designed to aggrandize his ego.”
Wilson pointed out that many of Hastert's victims were seniors and said he should have been prosecuted for elder abuse.
“Their golden years are now years of poverty,” he said, “It's a stain on this community.”
Majority of sentence to be served concurrently
Hastert pleaded no contest last year to 63 counts of embezzlement and illegally selling real estate securities after being implicated in about 200 real estate loans from 2004-07.
He used money from investors to give loans to people wanting to build homes in a scheme that State Deputy Attorney General Keith Lyons said was “doomed to failure” and showed intentional recklessness; victims said much of the money never went into legitimate loan accounts.
Hastert also allegedly set up fake straw investors to lead original investors into thinking the loans they supposedly were funding were secure.
In June 2009, Superior Court Judge Sean Dowling rejected a plea agreement that would have given Hastert five years in state prison. He then entered a new plea based on a potential sentence of six to 15 years.
The county probation department had recommended Hastert be sentenced to 13 years. Tamietti opted to give Hastert the upper term on 59 of the counts, to run concurrently, and consecutive sentences on four of the charges, for a total of seven years.
Tamietti also ruled Wednesday that Hastert owes more than $1.5 million to investors, even though he testified at a debtors exam that he no longer has any financial assets other than an estimated $6,000 in a frozen bank account.
Hastert was credited for about two and a half years for time served and good behavior. He likely will serve slightly more than two years actual prison time before being paroled. His court-appointed attorney, Monica Lynch, indicated he would not file an appeal.
Several of Hastert's victims expressed disappointment after the sentencing.
“It is a travesty,” Crain said. “It's not a victory as far as I'm concerned.”
“We're all taught a sentence should be commensurate with the crime,” Wilson said. “Making all the counts concurrent doesn't fit the crime any more. Justice failed us in this regard. He's essentially let off the hook for everything he's done.”
To contact Staff Writer Liz Kellar, e-mail lkellar@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4229.
