$3 billion fraud leads to 6 years for one, 2.5 for another

For their cooperation, top mortgage company honchos spared long jolts

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Two executives at what had been the nation's largest private mortgage lender were sentenced to six and two-and-a-half years for their roles in a $3 billion fraud that officials have called the biggest criminal case to develop out of the nation's housing and financial crises.

Prosecutors had sought slightly longer terms of eight and five years, respectively, for Desiree Brown, treasurer at Ocala, Fla.-based Taylor Bean & Whitaker, and Raymond Bowman, the company's president. At the same time, though, prosecutors gave both credit for their cooperation in helping to unravel a series of complex financial frauds and deliver a guilty conviction against Taylor Bean's owner and chairman, Lee Farkas, who is expected to receive a significantly longer term when he is sentenced later this month...