Disbarred Attorney Harvey Wright Gets 34 Months for South Side 'Double Closing' Mortgage Fraud

Case from 2013–2016 (U.S. Attorney's Office release: Nov. 27, 2013; later developments are from court records and other sources cited below). Published on Scammers.com Oct. 16, 2026; case status is current as of that date.

Harvey Wright, a disbarred attorney from South Holland, was one of seven people indicted in November 2013 in a mortgage fraud case run through U.S. Worldwide Title Services LLC, a now-defunct title company in Downers Grove. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced the charges [1]. Wright later pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and was sentenced to 34 months in prison. The Seventh Circuit affirmed that sentence on Oct. 7, 2016 [2].

The case was part of Operation Mad House, an undercover FBI-led investigation of mortgage fraud by real estate professionals in the Chicago area.

How the "double closing" scheme worked

The facts below come from Wright's plea agreement as summarized by the Seventh Circuit [2], and from the indictment [1]:

1. First sale: A straw buyer used a short-term loan to buy a distressed property, often through a short sale.
2. Immediate flip: The same property was resold, sometimes the same day, to a second straw buyer at a fraudulently inflated price.
3. Inflated mortgage: Wright directed the second buyer and arranged the mortgage loan on that buyer's behalf. False statements in contracts, loan applications and closing documents hid what was going on.
4. Payout: The loan proceeds paid off the first buyer's short-term loan and covered the second buyer's down payment. Part of what was left went to Wright.
5. Lender loss: The second buyer never intended to make mortgage payments, so the lender took the loss.

The indictment also alleged that the scheme used stolen identities. It said documents were prepared falsely claiming the properties had been placed in a trust about a year before the sales, to hide the double closings from lenders [1].

Wright took part in three double closings, all involving South Side properties. The loss attributed to the scheme for sentencing was $630,430 [2].

The sentence

Harvey Wright, 46 at indictment, Chicago (disbarred South Holland attorney)

• Charged: with two counts of wire fraud. He pleaded guilty to one.
• Sentence: 34 months in prison, below the advisory guideline range of 41 to 51 months, imposed by U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin. The court's docket shows sentencing on June 17, 2016, with judgment entered July 7, 2016 [3].
• The judge's remarks: He called the scheme "intricate and detailed" and "crooked from the start." He noted that it targeted neighborhoods like Englewood that "can ill afford to have people preying on the system," and that Wright's legal training may have made the other participants believe what they were doing was lawful [2].
• Appeal: Affirmed Oct. 7, 2016 (No. 16-1527). According to the presentence report, Wright had been disbarred in 2011.

We have not verified the outcomes for the other six people charged in the same indictment, so they are not named here.

Red flags for lenders and buyers

• The same property sold twice in a short period, especially on the same day, with a large price jump.
• Trust transfers that appear just before a sale and aren't supported by recorded history.
• Buyers recruited or paid to take title who don't plan to live in the home.

If you suspect mortgage fraud

1. Report it to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or the HUD Office of Inspector General hotline at hudoig.gov/hotline.
2. Check for identity misuse: If you think your identity was used to buy property, pull your credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com and report it at IdentityTheft.gov.

Case status (as of Oct. 16, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 16, 2026	Source
Harvey Wright	N.D. Ill. (Judge Durkin), 13 CR 916; 7th Cir. No. 16-1527	Pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud; sentenced to 34 months (judgment July 2016); affirmed Oct. 7, 2016	[2], [3]

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "Nine Defendants, Including Title Company Owners And Lawyers, Indicted In Two Separate Mortgage Fraud Schemes," Nov. 27, 2013. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/nine-defendants-including-title-company-owners-and-lawyers-indicted-two-separate
2. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, United States v. Harvey Wright, No. 16-1527, Oct. 7, 2016. https://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/OpinionsWeb/processWebInputExternal.pl?Path=Y2016%2FD10-07%2FC%3A16-1527%3AJ%3APerCuriam%3Aaut%3AT%3AnpDp%3AN%3A1842140%3AS%3A0&Submit=Display
3. CourtListener (RECAP), docket for United States v. Guel, No. 1:13-cr-00916 (N.D. Ill.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/5609648/united-states-v-guel/

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