A former sales executive at Washington Mutual Inc.'s subprime lending unit Long Beach Mortgage was convicted of fraud yesterday by a federal court jury, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Joel Blanford was found guilty yesterday of six counts of mail fraud for his involvement in a scheme to falsify loan documents that earned him more than $1 million in commissions from 2003 to 2005, said U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner. Blanford paid a loan coordinator in cash and checks to falsify documents, provide false verification of borrowers’ employment or professional licensing status, and to turn a blind eye to fraudulent representations contained in loan applications and other documents submitted to Long Beach Mortgage, prosecutors said. His commissions were based on the number of loans the bank processed.
