Former UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen has found himself in some very hot water after pleading guilty to one count of money laundering before the federal court. This follows on the heels of his positive steroid test after UFC 117.
For those not familiar with Sonnen’s life outside of the octagon, the fighter is also an Oregon real estate agent and has dabbled in state politics.
Sonnen now faces some real punishment, and not just a years suspension that can be brokered down to six months. He could face up to a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000 if the judge feels that it’s warranted. He’ll be sentenced on March 28th.
Details of the incident were published in a Press Release from the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon on Monday.
Sonnen, a licensed realtor in the State of Oregon, admitted that a financial transaction he conducted was designed to conceal or disguise the ownership and control of the proceeds of wire fraud. The scheme involved Joel Rosabal and Chadwick Amsden, employees of Crown Point Enterprises, dba Lighthouse Financial Group (Lighthouse), a mortgage brokerage service based principally in Vancouver, Washington, with operations in Oregon and elsewhere. Rosabal and Amsden submitted a materially false loan application on the buyer’s behalf to Decision One Mortgage, a subprime lending institution that is now defunct, for the purchase of residential property located at 11249 SE Rolling Hills Lane, Portland, Oregon. Sonnen acted as the realtor for the transaction. Sonnen submitted a false letter and Sales Agreement Addendum instructing the title company to pay loan proceeds to a plumbing company for repairs to the home. In fact, Sonnen knew and had negotiated with Rosabal that no repairs would be performed on the home and the funds designated to the plumbing company would instead be paid to the buyer as a cash incentive to purchase the home. This agreement was not disclosed to Decision One Mortgage. Once the loan was funded, the title company paid over $69,000 to the plumbing company and the plumbing company, in turn and at Sonnen’s direction, paid $65,000 to the buyer of the home.
“This office will continue to aggressively prosecute real estate professionals who committed the mortgage fraud that contributed to this country’s economic downturn and wreaked havoc on our community’s housing market. We entrusted these professionals to honestly broker real estate transactions and instead, they defrauded lending institutions throughout the country and left financial ruin in their wake,” said Dwight Holton, U. S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.
If the District Attorney’s Office is truly serious about making an example out of Sonnen he could really be looking at some serious time behind bars.
If that happens I guess fans will have to wait a long, long time to see a rematch between Sonnen and Anderson Silva happen.