PI:

According to records in the case and testimony at trial, Ashmore conspired with others to recruit straw buyers to purchase homes in the Seattle area. Ashmore worked with buyers to put false information on the loan applications regarding the buyers employment, income and plans to live in the house.

Based on the false information, lenders approved loans for the property purchase. The loans on the properties frequently totaled more than the seller’s asking price — the excess amount was retained by Ashmore and his co-conspirators.

The properties were quickly sold or “flipped” to another straw buyer, at an even higher price, with the excess amount going to Ashmore. Ultimately, Ashmore failed to make the mortgage payments and the loans went into foreclosure.

And what was Ashmore's mistake? He never got big. His failure was not that he committed a crime, crime (robbery, dispossession) is the core of capitalism, but a matter of scale. Scale means everything. If you're a fly, you have a different relationship with gravity than if you're a human. Similarly, if you are dealing with peanuts, you have a different relationship with the forces of capitalism than a fat cat.