Property manager pleads guilty to stealing more than $2 million from Mississippi Homeowners Associations
Published 6:39 am Thursday, November 11, 2021
A property manager pled guilty to bank fraud on Wednesday, November 11 and now faces up to 30 years in federal prison.
According to court documents, David Luke Lane, 78, used his position as a property manager to defraud several Homeowners Associations (HOAs) and Community Bank of Mississippi. He entered into contracts with the various HOAs to manage their properties and money in return for a fee.
Lane’s duties included keeping the funds of each HOA in designated bank accounts and using those funds for the exclusive and sole benefit of each HOA. Instead, prosecutors said Lane defrauded numerous HOAs by making unauthorized withdrawals of funds from HOA bank accounts and by converting those funds to his own use instead of for the benefit of the HOAs.
They also said he falsely represented to the bank that he was authorized to make these withdrawals from the HOA accounts. The total of funds taken from the HOAs by Lane exceeded $2 million dollars.
Lane is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday, February 11, 2022.