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Barry Wayne Plunkett Jr., 62, pleaded guilty to five counts of bank fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and one count of tax evasion, the US Attorney's Office said. A federal judge sentenced him to six and a half years in prison, and he must repay $3 million and forfeit $3.2 million, authorities said. His wife, Nancy Plunkett, 57, who pleaded guilty to five counts of bank fraud, will spend one year and one day behind bars.
From 2015 until 2018, Barry Plunkett represented several clients to refinance or to get new mortgages and would pocket the money they used to pay off liens on the property but lie to lenders that the payments were made, federal officials said. They defrauded 14 homeowners and six mortgage lenders through this scheme and earned more than $1 million.
They also lied on personal mortgage documents for their home in Hyannis for three successive loans of $412,000, $470,00, and $1.2 million, authorities said. On one application, the couple used Nancy's maiden name and claimed she was buying the home as a business expense as a single woman from Wellesley.
The Plunketts ran the Plunkett Law Firm with Barry serving as attorney and Nancy his paralegal until 2017 when the Massachusetts Bar Association disbarred him in 2017.
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