The former head of the now bankrupt mortgage lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp has been charged with fraud in a scheme that led to the misappropriation of over $1 billion, according to an indictment unsealed on Wednesday.

Lee Farkas, who served as chief executive and then chairman of the firm, was charged with 16 counts, including securities and bank fraud, according to the indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The indictment accused Farkas and unnamed co-conspirators of trying to misappropriate money from banks as well as federal institutions such as Freddie Mac , and even trying to obtain money from the bank bailout program known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The scheme ultimately led to the misappropriation of more than $1 billion, the 30-page indictment said. Farkas and co-conspirators never obtained any TARP funds.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Mortgage