Crime & Safety

Judge Gives Cordell Prison, Restitution

Greg Cordell, in a deal with federal prosecutors, pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud in a case related to his Old Mill Road home destroyed in a 2004 blaze.

Formal Cartersville mayoral candidate, Realtor and developer, and hairdresser Greg Cordell has been sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to bank fraud.

Following twists and turns in the federal criminal case related to the 2004 fire that destroyed his large Cartersville home, Cordell was deemed mentally competent to stand trial, but pleaded guilty to one count in a deal with prosecutors, who agreed drop the other charges he faced.

Cordell—who lost a related, prior civil trial resulting in a $1 million judgment against him—also faces state arson and fraud charges related to the Old Mill Road blaze.

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U.S. District Judge Charles A. Pannell Jr. sentenced Cordell, 46, to two years and three months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. The court also ordered Cordell to pay $1,005,804.20 in restitution, according to an U.S. Attorney's Office press release.

In the guilty plea, Cordell admitted to what authorities call a "mortgage scheme" involving the Cartersville property that later became the scene of one of the city's biggest residential fires and led to reprimands of firefighters who mishandled the arson investigation.        

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Prosecution officials in the release laid out their case:

  • In March 2003, Cordell bought a house and 6 acres of land at 179 Old Mill Road, Cartersville, for $1.25 million. Although the seller had listed the property for approximately $950,000, Cordell and the seller agreed to inflate the sales price by $307,000, obtain an inflated mortgage from Washington Mutual and then pay the extra $307,000 to Cordell after closing. This kickback arrangement was not disclosed to the bank. 
  • In his loan application, Cordell also overstated his annual income, claimed that he owned several properties that he no longer owned and understated his financial liabilities.          
  • Cordell refinanced the property in August 2004. He obtained a mortgage from Washington Mutual for $1 million and drew out $62,500 in equity. His mortgage application contained the same false claims about income and assets as his original application.          
  • On the evening of Sept. 1, 2004, the house was destroyed by arson as Cordell and his family were driving to Florida for a vacation. Because of the timing of the fire, he never made a payment on the new mortgage. Cordell’s property insurer paid off the mortgage to avoid the accrual of interest while it investigated the arson. 
  • With the mortgage lien lifted, Cordell sold the property in October 2005 for $900,000 and spent the proceeds without paying the insurer. 
  • Including the kickback, refinance and sale amounts, Cordell thus pocketed about $1.26 million. Cordell’s purchases during this time period included a private airplane, a Porsche, two Suburbans, two Mercedes Benz SUV's and other vehicles.          
  • In an earlier civil case tried in federal court in Rome, the property insurer obtained a judgment against Cordell for more than $1 million for the amount it paid to Washington Mutual to satisfy the mortgage. 
  • In August 2008, Cordell was indicted on state arson, insurance fraud and loan fraud charges in a case that remains pending in Bartow County Superior Court.         

“Mortgage fraud involving fraudulently inflated sales prices contributed to the housing bubble that, when it burst, caused so much damage to the economy in Georgia and across our nation," U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in the press release. "This defendant not only lied on mortgage applications to get over $1 million in loans, he fraudulently inflated the purchase price to get a bigger mortgage and then was paid a kickback under the table from the proceeds. He will now spend over two years in federal prison.”          

Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Lamkin, who oversees the agency's Atlanta Field Office which investigated the case, said in the release that Cordell "through his fraudulent actions and, later, his extravagant purchases of airplanes and luxury vehicles, exhibited a selfish greed that he will now have to answer for." 


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