Former real estate developer Brandon Barber faces a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to three federal charges related to bank loans and his 2009 personal bankruptcy.
Going For Broke
Read an in-depth story about Brandon Barber from Going For Broke. (free)
Barber, 37, of New York City pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bankruptcy fraud and money laundering.
U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III won't sentence Barber, 37, of New York City until after the trials of five charged as co-conspirators whose court dates are scheduled this fall.
Barber initially was charged with 27 counts involving about $30 million in bank loans and his $53 million Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy in 2009, debt that Barber sought to have discharged because he said he has no assets.
Barber was arrested on March 20 in New York.
He has been in the Washington County jail since June 14, when Magistrate Judge Erin Setser determined that Barber had violated the terms of his release on home detention by going to restaurants and other places without permission from his probation officer.
Barber had been scheduled for two trials, on Sept. 16 and Oct. 21, but those have been cancelled.
Barber was to be returned to the jail after the hearing Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Fort Smith, said his attorney, Asa Hutchinson III.
"Obviously, he'll be sentenced to some time in jail," Hutchinson said after the hearing.
Barber is charged with five other people, some of whom are accused of helping him conceal his assets. Brandon Rains, a co-defendant, was scheduled to enter a plea later Wednesday.
Barber was a prominent real-estate developer in Northwest Arkansas before the recession that began in 2007.
His Fayetteville developments include the $17 million, seven-story Legacy Building near Dickson Street.