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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Developer gets 8 years in prison, must pay fraud victims $9 million

Shannon Stiltner and Greg Jeffreys
A Spokane developer who swindled millions from investors and banks in complex real estate schemes, including one involving the decrepit Ridpath Hotel in downtown, was sentenced today to eight years in federal prison and ordered to pay $9.3 million to his victims. Greg Jeffreys, who pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud in a series of real estate schemes from 2006 to 2013, learned his fate at the conclusion of a three-day sentencing and restitution hearing in U.S. District Court in Spokane. “Greg Jeffreys became a notorious fraudster in the Spokane area and elsewhere,” U.S. Attorney Michael Ormsby said in a prepared statement. “I commend the FBI and members of my office for their dedication and tenacity in unraveling Jeffreys’ fraudulent schemes and vigorously pursuing restitution for the victims of Jeffreys’ crimes.” Jeffreys in November admitted to several felonies, including wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit felony criminal contempt. He had promised lavish returns on investments in condominiums, Ridpath units and a military entrance processing station off Highway 2. It took investigators years to unwind the tangled schemes. The vacant Ridpath and all of the financial problems that turned it into a highrise eyesore in the heart of Spokane have been partly blamed on Jeffreys. His ex-wife, Kimberly Jeffreys, pleaded guilty in February to a charge of fraud in dealings surrounding the military facility. She has yet to be sentenced for her role in the scheme but faces a potential six-month sentence and restitution of close to $160,000. Shannon Stiltner, a woman who lived with Greg Jeffreys in Las Vegas and pleaded guilty in November to deliberately ignoring signs her boyfriend was swindling investors, is serving her seven-month sentence at a federal detention center in Seattle. Stiltner has been ordered to pay $58,000 in restitution and is scheduled for release in August. Court records detailed a lifestyle in the fast lane for Jeffreys, a University High School graduate who owned a showy three-story home in Spokane Valley as well as residences in Arizona, Las Vegas and elsewhere. Prosecutors say Jeffreys gambled away hundreds of thousands of dollars while sharing a suite with Stiltner at the Mandalay Bay casino.