FBI Agent Robert Foley III
The head of the Detroit FBI tells WXYZ that investigators considered charging the stepchildren and husband of ex-Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway, recently sentenced to a year and a day in prison for bank fraud.
But Robert D. Foley III, head of the Detroit FBI told WXYZ's Ross Jones that there wasn't enough evidence to bring those charges.
Hathaway, 59, pleaded guilty in January to a real estate scheme in which she transferred properties out of her name to make it look as if she had less assets, all so she could get a short sale on her Grosse Pointe Park home and get out of $600,000 she owed the bank, ING Direct. The original mortgage was $1.4 million and the home was sold for $800,000 in the short sale.
Under the short sale, the loss to the bank was approximately $100,000, according to the government. The government noted that she did bring $10,000 to the closing for the short sale as a closing fee, bringing the actual loss to $90,000. The judge agreed that the loss was $90,000 to the bank.
The FBI launched its probe into Hathaway after Ross Jones unearthed the scam, which included her hiding properties in her stepchildrens' names.
Foley told Jones they just never had enough proof to charge the children. Foley said investigators looked at her husband, Michael J. Kingsley, an attorney, who signed bank documents.
"We never got to a level of beyond a reasonable doubt in our investigation," he said.
The scheme was reported in the media to be sophisticated, though Foley disagrees.
"The manner in which she conducted her criminal activity is somewhat typical when some body is committing a bank fraud. I don't think you can categorize it as very sophisticated. It was about average.
