Published: Thursday, March 27, 2008
Updated: Thursday, March 27, 2008 11:14 AM CDT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — An icon in Missouri high school basketball for more than three decades was sentenced Monday to 12 months in federal prison for his role in a real estate scheme that one judge has said contributed to mortgage industry woes.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on its Web site, stltoday.com, that Floyd Irons also was ordered to help pay back more than $653,000 in losses to banks.

Irons retired in 2006 as one of the most successful boys basketball coaches in Missouri history, with more than 800 wins and 10 of Vashon High School’s 11 championships.

But in September, he pleaded guilty to federal charges of mail and wire fraud. Prosecutors have said the real estate scheme was meant to kick back thousands of dollars to Irons and Mike Noll, a friend and fellow basketball enthusiast.

Noll, a real estate investor, was sentenced Monday to 20 months in federal prison and ordered to help repay more than $1 million to banks.

A third man, John Mineo Jr., who served as mortgage broker in the scheme, was sentenced Monday to one year and one day in prison and restitution of $653,000.

Prosecutors said Irons bought or arranged to purchase four houses in St. Louis totaling $1.6 million. Irons paid more than the market value of each home, then falsified loan application documents to get the money.

Mineo, whose family owns John Mineo’s Italian restaurant, paid Irons and Noll $20,000 to $60,000 per home, prosecutors said.

A fourth person, real estate appraiser Andrew Tegethoff, was sentenced last month to eight months in prison in his role in the scheme. Prosecutors considered him only a minor player.

Last month, U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber called the scheme one contribution to the financial “catastrophe” in the U.S. mortgage industry.

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com