A veteran Chicago police officer with a history of financial trouble has been indicted on federal bank fraud charges alleging he lied on loan paperwork tied to the purchase of three properties in 2019.
LeAnthony Brown, 49, was charged in the eight-page indictment made public Wednesday with five counts of mortgage fraud and making false statements to a financial institution.
The charges allege that in February and March of 2019, Brown fraudulently obtained mortgage loans from two financial institutions totaling about $290,000 by lying about his assets, including a construction company he owns called Fathers, Brothers and Sons Inc.
In loan applications for two of the properties, Brown submitted fraudulent statements for a personal bank account that misstated how much he had in his real bank account, the indictment stated. The banks in turn gave Brown loans in the amounts of $60,450 and $57,850.
While the charges do not state where the properties were located, county land records show the mortgages were approved for two adjacent single-family homes in the 1200 block of West 79th Street in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood.
A month later, Brown submitted similarly fraudulent paperwork to secure a $169,000 loan for a third property, identified as Property C, by claiming he had more than $60,000 in cash in his checking account and his construction company had more than $600,000, the indictment stated. It was not clear from public records where that property was located.
Brown, who joined the Police Department in 1998, is assigned to the Deering (9th) District on the South Side. but detailed to a unit that handles nonemergency calls, according to a department spokesperson.
His lawyer, Brandon Brown, could not immediately be reached for comment.
County and other online records show Brown has a history of financial troubles, including multiple lawsuits by creditors, including a $61,000 civil judgment entered against him last year.
In June, a bank foreclosed on Brown’s longtime home on South Wabash Avenue after he failed to make mortgage payments, the records show.
He’s also faced discipline with the Police Department. Records show he was suspended for 25 days last year after a warrant was issued for his arrest over a civil contempt of court order in Cook County. Details of that order were not immediately available.
Brown was also among a handful of officers sued over the controversial death of Heriberto Godínez, who died in custody in 2015 after police responded to calls of a disturbance on the Southwest Side. Video from the scene showed one of the responding officers putting his foot on the handcuffed suspect’s neck.
Brown testified in a sworn deposition that when he arrived at the scene, he saw Godínez “flailing away” and resisting arrest, and he stepped in to help carry him to a police wagon.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office found Godínez died of cocaine and alcohol poisoning, with physical stress from his being restrained listed as “a significant contributing factor.”
The wrongful death lawsuit filed by Godínez’s sister later settled for $1.2 million.
Originally Published:
