A former mortgage broker and senior loan officer at Alpha Mortgage is in trouble with the federal government for lying about being disabled in order to receive Social Security disability payments on top of the salary he earned in the mortgage business.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, James Briant was recently sentenced to three years of probation for making false statements to the Social Security Administration to obtain disability payments.
Court documents show that in June 2010, Briant applied for disability benefits from the Social Security Administration, claiming that he was unable to work due to a back disorder and heart disease. The next year, Briant began receiving monthly disability benefits of approximately $2,370, based on those claims.
As a condition of receiving the Social Security benefits, Briant was obligated to notify the SSA if he received any income from other sources, which it appears that he didn’t do.
Court documents show that at some point in 2012, Briant began working at Alpha Mortgage, a North Carolina-based mortgager company, as a loan officer and mortgage broker.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Briant continued working at Alpha Mortgage through at least June 2017, receiving a salary the entire time, without notifying the SSA that he was receiving said salary.
Beyond that, in 2015, Briant completed and submitted a Social Security Disability form called “Statement of Claimant,” wherein he claimed, under penalty of perjury, that he had not worked since 2011, despite knowing that claim was “materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent.
In addition to receiving three years of probation, Briant was also ordered to pay approximately $134,000 in restitution to the Social Security Administration.
