By Michael Donoghue, Vermont News First
A Shelburne man has pleaded not guilty in federal court to four felony counts of bank fraud as part of a real estate scam, according to the office of the U.S. Attorney for Vermont.
Myrkel Latroy Staley, 43, devised the scheme to defraud TD Bank by submitting false documents in connection with a mortgage loan on a property at 157 Maple Leaf Lane in Shelburne, and later for a home equity line of credit on the same property. The fraud happened between June 2021 and March 2023, the indictment said.
Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle agreed to release him last week on a $10,000 unsecured appearance bond with conditions, including that he remain in Vermont and live at a home approved by the U.S. Probation Office. Doyle also ordered Staley to have no contact with two potential government witnesses, and limited contact with a third witness — the mother of their child.
The defendant is also known as Troy Williams, Troy Staley and Myrkel Stakey, court records show.
To obtain the two loans, Staley submitted fraudulent tax returns to TD Bank, the indictment said. It noted for the mortgage case, he claimed $131,578 in income for his 2020 tax return when the document submitted to the IRS showed he had no income.
When the bank asked for his 2022 tax return for the line of credit loan, Staley sent a document showing income of $193,562, which was false, records show. He never filed any tax return that year, the indictment said. TD Bank still gave him the line of credit.
As part of the mortgage scheme, Staley also fraudulently obtained $283,000 from another person, identified as victim No. 1, for two proposed business ventures, the indictment said. In one case Staley made false representations regarding a trucking business in South Carolina, which he claimed was for sale, the indictment said In the second venture, there was a proposal to build a multi-unit residential apartment complex in town called Williston, S.C.
Staley also sent two separate emails to TD Bank on July 26, 2021 attaching a bill of sale which purportedly was to show transfer of ownership of two Peterbilt semitrucks to victim No. 1. He submitted the false bills of sale to TD Bank in an attempt to prove he had legitimate assets necessary to close the mortgage loan, the indictment said.
Staley withdrew $158,000 from his bank account and used it for a cashier’s check for the closing agent for the property sale in Shelburne, records note. All those funds had bene fraudulently obtained from victim No. 1, who was not identified in the indictment.
TD Bank later issued a mortgage to Staley for $416,250 for the Maple Leaf Lane property on Aug. 16, 2021, the indictment said.
He subsequently attempted to obtain a $140,000 line of credit from TD Bank for the Maple Leaf Lane property.
The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of the real property at 157 Maple Leaf Lane and at least $140,000 in cash, if convicted on any of the four accounts.
If convicted, Staley faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
The case has been assigned to Chief Federal Judge Christina Reiss in Burlington.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt praised the cooperative investigation of the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service and the IRS-Criminal Division in Vermont.