A Chesterfield man was sentenced Thursday to nine years in federal prison for conspiracy and wire fraud and ordered to pay over $1.2 million in restitution to victims.
According to court records and evidence presented at trial, Joshua Brian Romano, 40, owned businesses that purchased, rehabilitated and sold homes around Richmond. Romano funded this work via construction loans that were held in escrow in the trust account of a Chesterfield County law firm.
The loans were earmarked for use by Romano only for the purchase and rehabilitation of specific properties, and only with the lender’s express approval for each disbursement.
Acting at Romano’s direction, Lindsey Epps Passmore, 39, a paralegal at the law firm, disbursed $1.2 million of a lender’s funds held in trust for Romano’s projects without receiving the lender’s approval or by misleading the lender about how the funds were to be used.
The funds were then used for purposes outside the scope of the agreements with the lender.
Passmore was sentenced in November to serve 14 months in prison for her role in the scheme.
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Chris Graham
