RIVERSIDE – The former president of Mortgage One Corporation in Hesperia was sentenced Monday to 13 years in federal prison for defrauding the Department of Housing and Urban Development and private lenders.
John Varner, 56, fraudulently obtained hundreds of federally insured loans and sold the mortgages to private lenders in a scheme that resulted in tens of millions of dollars in losses to the housing agency.
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I met John Varner and we discussed his case many times over the course of the last 8 months. Not only was he “dump trucked” by his public defender, but the witnesses who he had lined up to testify on his behalf were intimidated by the prosecution. In fact the prosecution threatened his witnesses with up to 10 years for conspiracy if they were to take the stand. Plus there were only 11 actual cases of thousands of loans surveyed which showed fraud. None of these were loans initiated by Mr. Varner. Also his business partner, who was actually responsible for the fraudulent counts is dead. The restitution is based on “Potential Loss” which is tantamount to saying to someone who almost hit your car that they owe you for damages that never occurred. I personally know John Varner to be a sincere, humble man who is shrewd business operator. He is an intelligent and thoughtful person.
The press should be more responsible than to characterize someone based solely on the viewpoint of our morally and financially corrupt Government. You should be ashamed.