LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) _ A former Roanoke woman has been sentenced to eight years in prison for operating a Smith Mountain Lake mortgage fraud scheme. Susanne Helbig, who now lives in Georgia, also was ordered to repay $10.5 million to the banks she defrauded and pay nearly $180,000 to the Internal Revenue Service. The 50-year-old Helbig pleaded to one count of mortgage fraud conspiracy and one count of tax fraud in October. She was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg. According to the indictment, Helbig and others submitted false and fraudulent mortgage loan applications and settlement statements in the name of straw purchasers. Helbig kept the loan proceeds for her own purposes.
