Federal authorities have accused a mortgage broker of money laundering and bank fraud in connection with the alleged sham refinancing of an office building in downtown Vancouver, Wash.

Sheldon Harmon, 35, who now lives in Utah, allegedly provided false information indicating the office building was more than 90 percent occupied and generating more than $74,000 a month in lease income. Federal investigators, however, say the building was largely empty.

Based on the phony information, Umpqua Bank agreed to loan more than $3 million in the refinancing. Harmon allegedly pocketed more than $1.2 million of the proceeds, failed to make payments on the new loan and then got the debt discharged in bankruptcy, costing the bank more than $2 million, according to court documents.

Harmon was charged in U.S. District Court in Oregon. His lawyer, Benjamin Kim, did not respond to a message left at his office. Michelle Kerin, an assistant U.S. attorney, declined comment.

The office building was once home to Lighthouse Financial, a mortgage brokerage that Harmon started at age 24, The Oregonian newspaper reported ( http://is.gd/bm9eU5).

Some Lighthouse brokers, who came to refer to themselves as the "Cash Money Brothers," aggressively pursued the type of fraudulent home mortgage that fueled the housing mania and its ensuing bust.

Twelve people with Lighthouse connections have faced criminal charges, the newspaper reported, and at least four already have been sentenced to prison. Oregon mortgage regulators banned Lighthouse from doing business in the state in 2009 and Washington regulators followed suit.

Court documents indicate prosecutors are considering additional charges against Harmon, including bankruptcy fraud.

Prosecutors said Harmon filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy and went on food stamps in 2010, all while driving a Cadillac Escalade, taking his family on vacations and making payments on a $1.6 million house in Ridgefield, Wash.

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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com