Mark Steven Ashmore, 43, of Bellevue, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to six years in prison, five years of supervised release and $904,000 in restitution for conspiracy and three counts of wire fraud.

He was one of four people indicted in November 2009, for a mortgage fraud scheme that damaged Pierce Commercial Bank and other lenders. Three of the defendants pleaded guilty and testified at the trial.

Ashmore was convicted in September 2010, following a six-day jury trial. The jury deliberated about four hours before returning the guilty verdict.

At sentencing U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones called the scheme a huge mortgage fraud operation. “Three words that come to mind regarding the nature of the offense: greed, lies, and manipulation,” Judge Jones said.

According to records in the case and testimony at trial, Ashmore conspired with others to recruit straw buyers to purchase homes in the Seattle area.  He worked with buyers to put false information on the loan applications regarding the buyer’s employment, income and plans to live in the house. Based on the false information, lenders approved loans for the property purchase.

The loans on the properties frequently totaled more than the seller’s asking price – the excess amount was retained by Ashmore and his co-conspirators.  The properties were quickly sold or “flipped” to another straw buyer, at an even higher price, with the excess amount going to Ashmore.

Ultimately, Ashmore failed to make the mortgage payments and the loans went into foreclosure.  Pierce Commercial Bank ultimately closed its home loan business and came under increased scrutiny from state and federal regulators because of the badly damaged loan portfolio.

In their sentencing memo prosecutors called Ashmore the power behind the scheme that resulted in nearly $7 million in losses for banks and financial institutions.