Plea hearing in $45 million South Carolina-based mortgage fraud canceled

A change of plea hearing for a Summerville man charged in a $45 million mortgage fraud has been canceled.

Scott M. Wickersham was scheduled to formally plead guilty in Charleston today.

A notice posted on the U.S. District Court website said the hearing was canceled. It has not been rescheduled.

Wickersham is a former real estate agency owner and mortgage loan officer. Prosecutors have tied him and unidentified “others” to a widespread property-flipping scheme involving at least 86 real estate deals, mostly in the coastal areas of South Carolina and Georgia. The transactions include 19 sales in the Charleston area.

The estimated losses to lenders total more than $20 million, according to court documents.

Wickersham has agreed cooperate in the investigation. No one else has been charged.

Wickersham was a loan officer for North American Mortgage Group LLC and a real estate agent and part-owner of Realty Executives of Coastal Carolina.

He faces up to 36 years in prison and fines totaling $1.5 million, based on one count each of mail fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud, according to his plea agreement. He also has agreed to pay the Internal Revenue Service about $257,000 in restitution based on two counts of filing false tax returns.