A Chicago contractor's 17-year sentence for a West Side reverse mortgage scheme
Mark Diamond, a Chicago contractor, ran a home repair and reverse mortgage fraud scheme that targeted elderly and disabled homeowners, overwhelmingly Black, on Chicago's West Side, convincing them to take out reverse mortgages to pay for repairs he then failed to substantively perform. Prosecutors said the scheme ran back to 2008, defrauded more than 100 homeowners aged 62 to 98 out of at least $7 million, and ended with a 205-month federal prison sentence in January 2025.
- Year
- 2025
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $7.0 million
- Victims
- 100
- Schemes
- Reverse mortgage scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-01
The facts, as recorded
- Diamond, 68, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud affecting a financial institution and was sentenced on January 16, 2025 by US District Judge Franklin Valderrama in the Northern District of Illinois to 205 months (just over 17 years) in federal prison.
- The court ordered $2.7 million in restitution; prosecutors said Diamond's scheme defrauded homeowners of at least $7 million in total loan proceeds.
- More than 100 homeowners were victimized, ranging in age from 62 to 98, most of them elderly, disabled and living on Chicago's West Side; reporting on the case described them as overwhelmingly Black homeowners.
- Diamond's method was to offer home repair work, then tell homeowners a reverse mortgage was necessary to pay for it, after which he pocketed the loan proceeds and, in most cases, never performed substantive repairs.
- Diamond was barred from working as a mortgage banker or home builder as part of his sentence. Four co-conspirators were also charged and pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme.
- At sentencing, Judge Valderrama told Diamond: "Buying a home is part of the American dream. You turned that dream into a nightmare."
- A victim's daughter, Barbara Quintero-Bailey, said: "No sentence ever given will suffice the hurt and pain he put us through."
- Diamond told the court: "Everything said totally is my fault. I take full responsibility."
Why this case matters
This is the largest and most recent case on this page by victim count: more than 100 households across one part of one city, over roughly a decade. It shows the scheme at its most organized, a contractor using a legitimate repair need as the entry point into a federally insured loan product, with four co-conspirators helping run it.
The repair that wasn’t
Diamond’s pitch combined two things homeowners wanted: work on their house and a way to pay for it without a monthly bill. Reporting on the case found that in most instances the promised repairs were never substantively performed once the reverse mortgage proceeds were in hand.
Who was targeted
Victims ranged from 62 to 98 years old, concentrated among elderly and disabled homeowners on Chicago’s West Side; news coverage of the sentencing specifically described the victims as overwhelmingly Black homeowners, and Diamond had drawn a prior regulatory consent decree over loan closings as far back as 2003.
The caveat
Diamond pleaded guilty, and the facts above reflect a concluded federal case: a guilty plea, a sentence, and a restitution order, not merely an allegation. The $7 million total loss figure and the “more than 100” victim count are the figures reported by prosecutors and the sentencing court; this page does not independently verify any individual victim’s loss beyond what is stated in the sources above.
People named in the public record
- Mark Diamond · convicted
Sources
- Chicago man sentenced to prison for defrauding elderly homeowners on West Side in reverse mortgage scheme. Chicago Sun-Times. Accessed 2026-10-01. Supports: Diamond's age, the 2008 to 2015 scheme period, the 2017 arrest, the more-than-100-victims figure ranging from age 62 to 98, the at-least-$7-million loss figure, the $2.7 million restitution order, the 205-month sentence, the repair-fraud mechanism, his 2003 consent decree, and the quotes from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and HUD Inspector General Rae Oliver Davis.
- Corrupt Chicago contractor Mark Diamond sentenced to 17 years in prison for targeting elderly Black homeowners on West Side. ABC7 Chicago (WLS-TV). Accessed 2026-10-01. Supports: The targeting of elderly and disabled Black homeowners, the mortgage-banker and builder ban, the four co-conspirators who pleaded guilty, Judge Valderrama's quote, Barbara Quintero-Bailey's quote, and Diamond's own statement to the court.