Fort Myers attorney indicted in mortgage fraud scheme

A suspended Florida attorney is facing three decades behind bars for lying on a mortgage application as part of a much larger $4.2 million scheme. The defendant, John Evans, was indicted this week on one charge of wire fraud and one count of failure to file an income tax return, according to records filed in District Court for the Middle District of Florida Fort Myers Division. The charges are tied to an alleged mortgage scheme in which Evans convinced a financial services firm to lend him $616,250 to cover the mortgage on a Cape Coral, Fla., property. Reports from the The News-Press out of Fort Myers say Evans’ indictment is connected to a larger scheme involving several individuals. The federal counts against Evans carry a combined maximum penalty of 31 years in federal prison. Evans and his attorney were not immediately available for comment Friday. According to the indictment, Evans secured the loan by inflating his income, his down payment and his liquid assets on a loan application submitted to Southpoint Financial Services Inc. The Florida State Bar has already suspended Evans from practicing law in the state. The final outcome of the bar’s investigation has yet to be released, but the case filing on Evans shows numerous complaints from clients who accuse Evans of failing to handle his cases properly. Write to Kerri Panchuk.