Michael Hild was founder and CEO of the now-collapsed Live Well Financial in Chesterfield.
Michael Hild’s prison stint has begun.
The former CEO of collapsed Chesterfield-based mortgage company Live Well Financial appears to have surrendered as ordered to federal authorities on Friday to begin serving his 44-month fraud sentence, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons online records.
Hild, 51, is listed as being held in the low-security section of the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Petersburg at 1100 River Road in Prince George County.
The start of his incarceration is a long time coming.
It’s been nearly seven years since Hild was first arrested and charged with orchestrating a multimillion-dollar bond pricing scheme that toppled his then-fast-growing company, which was known for originating reverse mortgages to senior citizens and then packaging those loans into bonds for investors to buy.
It’s been five years since a jury convicted him of those charges – including securities fraud, bank fraud and wire fraud – and nearly three years since a judge sentenced him to 44 months.
A screenshot of Hild’s prison registration. (Courtesy Federal Bureau of Prisons)
However, he had been allowed to remain free on bond ever since his arrest in 2019, while maintaining his innocence and going through several rounds of appeals. Those appeals hinged mainly on the theory that his trial attorney was wrongfully ineffective to the point that an acquittal or new trial was warranted.
Judges in the U.S. District Court, U.S. Court of Appeals and U.S. Supreme Court ultimately shot down those arguments, culminating in an order requiring him to report to prison on July 10.
Still, Hild’s arrival at prison doesn’t mean his legal battle is finished.
His lawyer has made clear in court filings that Hild intends to continue to press for his freedom, beginning with a writ of habeas corpus petition that’s expected to be filed this month.
Such filings, which are typically made while a defendant is actively serving their sentence, would seek to challenge the conviction and imprisonment as unlawful.
Recent filings in Hild’s U.S. District Court case state that he plans to continue to argue that his trial attorney and childhood friend, Benjamin Dusing, was wrongfully effective to the point that it violated his constitutional rights.
Hild also has said his habeas petition would lean on alleged new evidence that his camp has discovered since the trial, mainly related to a former Live Well employee who cooperated with prosecutors in Hild’s case in exchange for immunity and was directly involved in the pricing of the bonds in question.
Hild also has several ongoing civil lawsuits that are sure to be affected, at least logistically, by his incarceration. They include cases filed against him by at least one of Live Well’s lenders and Live Well’s bankruptcy trustee.
Michael Hild is serving his sentence at the low-security Federal Correctional Institution Petersburg in Prince George County. (Courtesy of the Federal Bureau of Prisons)
Hild also had filed several civil suits of his own against lenders, former Live Well employees and even his own brother, though most of those have been dismissed.
And while Bureau of Prisons records show Hild is initially being held at FCI Petersburg, he may be forced to relocate to another federal facility.
The bureau announced earlier this month that the low-security section of FCI Petersburg is slated for closure, along with a handful of other prison facilities nationwide, due to “decades of deferred maintenance and extreme staffing challenges.”
A press release from the bureau said that staff currently assigned to the low-security facilities such as FCI Petersburg would be transferred to “other units onsite or nearby for continued employment,” but it doesn’t state what might happen to the inmates currently serving time there. FCI Petersburg has a medium-security facility onsite.
A specific closure date for FCI Petersburg was not announced and the bureau did not return a request for comment by press time.
An email sent to Hild’s current attorney, Brian Jacobs of New York law firm Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello, received no response.
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