Instead of building new homes as he promised for at least ten of his customers, Oklahoma City home builder Gregory L. Cobbs was defrauding them of $941,000 and spending it elsewhere.
This week, the 60-year old contractor who ran GL Cobbs and Company, LLC was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David L. Russell in Oklahoma City federal court, drawing a two-year sentence. The judge also ordered him to pay $941,470.60 in restitution to his victims.
Cobbs pleaded guilty last summer to one count of wire fraud. Prosecutors say Cobbs promised an Oklahoma couple living in The Netherlands he would help them in buying a lot and custom home in 2014. They signed a purchase agreement and wired $100,000 to him. But the charges stated he used $95,000 of the money for other purposes and not for a home and lot.
He eventually convinced them to wire him more money, bringing the total to more than $200,000.
Judge Russell considered not only the victims described in the information, but similarly-situated victims whom Cobbs defrauded. The court concluded Cobbs’s fraudulent scheme caused losses of over $940,000 to ten separate victims. At sentencing, two victims not referenced in the information described the manner in which Cobbs defrauded them and the effect of his crimes.
