"Mortgage chief gets 30 years; $3b fraud cited in bank collapse" July 01, 2011|By Eric Tucker, Associated Press
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - An executive convicted of orchestrating a nearly $3 billion fraud as chairman of one of America's largest private mortgage companies was sentenced yesterday to 30 years in prison by a judge who said he showed no remorse....
The fraud put thousands of employees out of work and contributed to the collapse of Colonial Bank, which authorities described as the sixth-largest bank collapse in US history....
Farkas was motivated by a lavish lifestyle and maintained several dozen classic cars, a private jet and seaplane, and multiple houses, including one in Key West....
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"Police shot and killed four masked and armed men in a sting operation, including one man who was cooperating with police in an investigation of a series of violent home robberies, authorities said....
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