Michael Prozer’s demise began in 2011. That’s when it was discovered that the reality star had paid a Wachovia Bank employee $25,000 to falsify documents claiming he had $21 million in collateral to offer against a potential loan. Prozer (who had no such funds) then used the fake papers to get a $3 million loan from a small and since-defunct Georgia bank called Park Avenue Bank. Not surprisingly, he never paid it back, and the law came calling. Before that, though, he tried to use some of the ill-gotten cash to rent a $4 million mansion on Florida’s swanky Davis Island, near Tampa. However, as Forbes reported, his $31,250 check for the first and last month’s rent bounced. He then tried his best to move funds around and stay in the property but was eventually evicted, with the landlord noting his (stolen) lifestyle was anything but lavish. “Basically he lived like a college kid,” they revealed.
Prozer appeared in court in 2011 and repeatedly claimed that Barry Cohen would represent him. However, he couldn’t actually afford the high-profile defense attorney and ended up representing himself. That October, after repeatedly lying to Federal Magistrate Elizabeth Jenkins, he was arrested without bail and ultimately pleaded guilty in April 2012 to avoid the case going to trial. In August 2012, Prozer was sentenced to eight years and six months in jail and ordered to pay $3 million in restitution.
