University of Rhode Island professor John Dunn charged in mortgage fraud scheme
The Providence Journal
January 31, 2011
John K. Dunn, a lawyer and longtime University of Rhode Island professor, has been charged by the Rhode Island State Police with three felony counts of obtaining money under false pretenses in connection with an alleged mortgage fraud scheme.
Dunn, 58, of 365 Boston Neck Rd., Narragansett, was arraigned before District Court Judge Mary E. McCaffrey. He entered no plea on the felony charges and was released on $10,000 personal recognizance pending further court action. The case was referred to the attorney general for felony screening.
Dunn has been a member of the Rhode Island bar since 1977 and is a URI professor of entrepreneurial management, working in the College of Business Administration since 1981.
He is charged with obtaining hundreds of thousands of dollars under false pretenses “with intent to cheat and defraud” from Crescent Mortgage Co., Lehman Brothers Bank and from Catherine Beckstein, a student who, according to a state police affidavit, had loaned Dunn $417,000 from an inheritance she’d received from her late mother.
