Live Well was previously headquartered in Chesterfield County.
Another former Live Well Financial executive is set to face a judge and learn his fate for his role in the collapse of the once-fast-growing Chesterfield mortgage company.
Darren Stumberger, the reverse mortgage lender’s former head bond trader, is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court in Manhattan on Aug. 30.
Stumberger will be the third Live Well executive to stand before Judge Ronnie Abrams for sentencing in a case that charged him, former CFO Eric Rohr and founder and former CEO Michael Hild for orchestrating a bond scheme that defrauded several lenders and sent the company into bankruptcy.
Stumberger, like Rohr, pleaded guilty after being arrested in 2019 and served as a cooperating witness in the government’s case against Hild, who pleaded not guilty.
Rohr was sentenced in May to time served and received no additional prison sentence.
Hild took the case to trial in 2021 and was found guilty on all counts by a jury. After disputing the verdict for more than a year, he was sentenced in January by Abrams to 44 months in prison but has remained free on bond while appealing.
Stumberger led Live Well’s bond trading operations, which for a time were a lucrative arm of Live Well’s business. The company packaged its reverse mortgage loans into bundles and sold them as securities to the broader investment market. However, those operations eventually drew the scrutiny of the Securities and Exchange Commission and then the FBI, as they accused the three men of falsely inflating the value of the company’s bonds to induce lenders to loan Live Well more money.
The federal courthouse in Manhattan where Stumberger and Hild’s cases are playing out.
Stumberger was among the prosecution’s star witnesses in the Hild case, in part due to his habit of secretly recording Live Well meetings leading up to its collapse. Those recordings were used as evidence and played for the jury at Hild’s trial.
It’s unclear how much prison time, if any, Stumberger might receive. The prosecution and defense attorneys will file sentencing recommendations next month prior to the hearing, but his fate is ultimately in Abrams’ hands.
Stumberger had been set to be sentenced in May on the same day as Rohr, but the hearing wasn’t held and no explanation was given.
His Aug. 30 hearing will be held at 2:30 p.m.
Stumberger is represented by attorney Xavier Robert Donaldson of New York law firm Donaldson & Chilliest.
Hild, meanwhile, continues to battle for his freedom. His latest effort came last month when he called for a new trial after claiming new evidence was discovered that proves the lenders in the case were not financially harmed by the Live Well saga to the extent they and prosecutors claimed at trial.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has since filed its response, arguing that Hild doesn’t deserve a do-over trial. Abrams has yet to rule on that matter.
Live Well’s bankruptcy case also remains active in Chapter 7 liquidation. The trustee in that case continues to litigate a lawsuit filed against Hild, his wife, Stumberger and others to try to recoup money for the company’s creditors.
Live Well was previously headquartered in Chesterfield County.
Another former Live Well Financial executive is set to face a judge and learn his fate for his role in the collapse of the once-fast-growing Chesterfield mortgage company.
Darren Stumberger, the reverse mortgage lender’s former head bond trader, is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court in Manhattan on Aug. 30.
Stumberger will be the third Live Well executive to stand before Judge Ronnie Abrams for sentencing in a case that charged him, former CFO Eric Rohr and founder and former CEO Michael Hild for orchestrating a bond scheme that defrauded several lenders and sent the company into bankruptcy.
Stumberger, like Rohr, pleaded guilty after being arrested in 2019 and served as a cooperating witness in the government’s case against Hild, who pleaded not guilty.
Rohr was sentenced in May to time served and received no additional prison sentence.
Hild took the case to trial in 2021 and was found guilty on all counts by a jury. After disputing the verdict for more than a year, he was sentenced in January by Abrams to 44 months in prison but has remained free on bond while appealing.
Stumberger led Live Well’s bond trading operations, which for a time were a lucrative arm of Live Well’s business. The company packaged its reverse mortgage loans into bundles and sold them as securities to the broader investment market. However, those operations eventually drew the scrutiny of the Securities and Exchange Commission and then the FBI, as they accused the three men of falsely inflating the value of the company’s bonds to induce lenders to loan Live Well more money.
The federal courthouse in Manhattan where Stumberger and Hild’s cases are playing out.
Stumberger was among the prosecution’s star witnesses in the Hild case, in part due to his habit of secretly recording Live Well meetings leading up to its collapse. Those recordings were used as evidence and played for the jury at Hild’s trial.
It’s unclear how much prison time, if any, Stumberger might receive. The prosecution and defense attorneys will file sentencing recommendations next month prior to the hearing, but his fate is ultimately in Abrams’ hands.
Stumberger had been set to be sentenced in May on the same day as Rohr, but the hearing wasn’t held and no explanation was given.
His Aug. 30 hearing will be held at 2:30 p.m.
Stumberger is represented by attorney Xavier Robert Donaldson of New York law firm Donaldson & Chilliest.
Hild, meanwhile, continues to battle for his freedom. His latest effort came last month when he called for a new trial after claiming new evidence was discovered that proves the lenders in the case were not financially harmed by the Live Well saga to the extent they and prosecutors claimed at trial.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has since filed its response, arguing that Hild doesn’t deserve a do-over trial. Abrams has yet to rule on that matter.
Live Well’s bankruptcy case also remains active in Chapter 7 liquidation. The trustee in that case continues to litigate a lawsuit filed against Hild, his wife, Stumberger and others to try to recoup money for the company’s creditors.