Shalonda McGill

It started with just one deal, former mortgage broker Veronica Stanton said.

Stanton told jurors that mortgage broker Shalonda McGill approached her to enlist her help in getting a loan for one of her clients in exchange for half of the commission on the purchase.

They did several deals together after that until Stanton, a former broker at the now closed First Flagler Mortgage, found out that one of the deals was the focus of a mortgage fraud case against McGill and her husband, former Jensen Beach pastor and radio personality Rodney McGill.

Rodney McGill

“You now know that this was a fraudulent loan?” Shalonda McGill’s attorney, Fran Ross, asked Stanton.

Stanton replied she knew.

“But you’re not being charged with any crime, isn’t that correct?” Ross continued.

“Yes, I’m not being charged,” Stanton answered.

The McGills are accused of duping investors into ruining their credit by buying investment properties they couldn’t afford through fraudulent loans.

In his opening statements to jurors in the case Tuesday, Rodney McGill, who has been acting as his own attorney with assistance from Miami Attorney Arthur Jones, said the mortgage companies, other brokers and the three women who invested with him as part of the “Fab 5″ investment promotion on his local radio show were the real culprits in the case.

The three women - Patricia Kelly, Cynthia McNair and Sharon Schofield - have testified that the McGills guided them through purchasing property, promising them big returns for buying only to sell them property they owned for inflated prices. They said the McGills later reneged on promises to pay the loans and the homes went into foreclosure.

Jurors today are expected to hear from at least one member of the Young Millionaires Group, an investment firm the McGills started.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 10:01 pm and is filed under Courts, Crime, Jensen Beach, Martin County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.