Investing in real estate, the hard way

Saw this in the attorney disciplinary listings.

You always hear people joking about this, but this fellow actually did it. From his court case (emphasis mine):

¶5 In December 2006 Attorney Hughes entered a plea agreement whereby he agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. On April 18, 2007, Attorney Hughes entered his guilty plea and was found guilty. He was sentenced to a prison term of one year and one day.

¶6 The plea agreement said that between November 2002 and November 2003, Attorney Hughes' creditors wrote off as bad debt or referred to collection agencies approximately 28 of Attorney Hughes' credit card loans, resulting in over $270,000 in principal debt plus additional unpaid fees and interest. The federal sentencing transcript indicates that Attorney Hughes conspired with his girlfriend to use the proceeds of the credit card loans, without repayment, to purchase a house in Gulf Shores, Alabama. According to the plea agreement, Attorney Hughes agreed to pay restitution as ordered by the federal court for at least the principal amounts owed to the credit card issuers and their assignees for the credit card debts he incurred in the course of the conspiracy to which he pled guilty. The court ordered $146,100 in restitution.

The guy wasn't planning to pay anything back, so it's not really a "charge this house" situation - but still.