Tommy Lister, Bully From Friday, Commits White-Collar Fraud Worth Millions
Tommy Lister, the 6-foot-5 actor and former WWE wrestler who plays the wild-eyed pscyho gangster in every movie you've ever seen, including Friday, was busted not for drilling some schmo into the ground as you might expect but rather for the most white collar of crimes:
IMDB Lister.
Mortgage fraud.
The U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles today said the 54-year-old was charged with conspiracy connected with ...
... mortgage fraud that cost victims $3.8 million. A 48-year-old tax preparer from Northridge, Arcelia Chavez, was also charged as part of the racket.
Feds say Lister and Chavez have already agreed today to plead guilty as part of a deal, the details of which were not released.
The U.S. Attorney's office said Lister got mortgages for four houses "he could not afford" in order to cash in on about $1.1 million in home equity credit lines based on the properties' values.
That's a lot of cash, even for a guy who's been in more than 100 movies and who goes by the nickname "Tiny."
The office says he also got kick backs from the home sellers and ultimately defaulted on all the loans.
The value of the mortgages as $5.7 million, prosecutors say: Chavez helped him obtain at least one of those loans.
The duo could face five years, but that seems unlikely since the two took the deal.
The good news is that if Lister does end up in prison, he'll probably command respect both for his size and his legendary roles.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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