ap.google.com | 11/15/08
The young prosecutor tapped to monitor the $700 billion financial rescue plan has brought down Colombian drug traffickers, gone after swindling corporate executives and now heads the mortgage fraud unit for the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan.
Continue reading "NY prosecutor picked to serve as bailout watchdog" »
washingtonpost.com | 11/13/08 | $33 million | suspect: Vijay K. Taneja | victim: multiple banks
Vijay K. Taneja, 47, admitted that he defrauded banks of at least $33 million through schemes in which he created bogus mortgage loans and obtained funds for the same loans from multiple banks. Prosecutors said the case is the largest in Virginia in at least 20 years.
Continue reading "Va. Businessman Pleads Guilty to $33M Mortgage Fraud" »
reuters.com | 11/6/08 | $313 Million | suspect: Bear Stearns | victim: Ambac Financial Group
Ambac Financial Group Inc on Wednesday sued EMC Mortage Corp, a former subsidiary of Bear Stearns, for breach of contract over mortgage-backed securities transactions. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan claimed that contract breaches by EMC in three transactions lead to more than $313.7 million in losses and resulted in $78.8 million in claims paid by Ambac Assurance Corp, a unit of the group.
reuters.com | 10/29/08 | $1 Billion | suspect: Bear Stearns | victim: Bank of America
Bank of America sued Bear Stearns and two former hedge fund managers on Wednesday who were indicted in the first major federal case stemming from the subprime mortgage crisis.
Continue reading "Bank of America sues ex-Bear Stearns managers" »
bloomberg.com | 10/6/08 | Andrew Harris
Countrywide Financial Corp., the home mortgage lender acquired by Bank of America Corp. in July, will offer interest rate and loan principal reductions plus other distressed borrower relief valued at $8.4 billion to settle consumer fraud complaints from 11 states.
ap.google.com | 9/30/08 | Alan Zibel
Adding to their woes, mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are facing a federal grand jury investigation into their accounting practices.
Continue reading "Fannie, Freddie disclose subpoenas, investigations" »
webcpa.com | 9/24/08 | Staff Writer
Testifying before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs about the financial industry bailout package, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended fair value accounting, but recommended that banks should be able to sell their assets at the "holdto- maturity" value to the federal government.
seattletimes.com | 9/22/08 | JOHN GITTELSOHN
In July 2007, Vijay and Supriti Soni of Corona del Mar, Calif., paid $440,000 for a home at 2129 W. Civic Center Drive in Santa Ana. Five weeks later, they resold the house to Javier Hernandez, the family gardener and handyman, for $660,000. That's a 50 percent gain in 38 days — at a time when real-estate prices in Santa Ana were plunging.
Continue reading "WaMu loaned millions to California home flippers convicted in fraud scheme" »
sltrib.com | 9/16/08 | Robert Schmidt
FBI Director Robert Mueller told lawmakers that his agency won't hesitate to pursue top financial executives as it investigates the subprime mortgage meltdown.
Continue reading "Feds will go after top execs in mortgage fraud, FBI boss says" »
bizjournals.com | 9/12/08 | Staff Writer
A Lee’s Summit man was sentenced Friday in federal court in Kansas City to five years and three months in prison without parole for his role in a $5 million mortgage-fraud conspiracy.
freep.com | 9/7/08 | David Myers
Dear David: We want to buy a home while prices are still down, but it would take every cent we have just to make a 3% or 5% down payment. The owner of a home that we really like has offered to sell us her property for $10,000 above its asking price, but then write us a check for $15,000 when the deal is completed. This seems like a great strategy, because the seller would be able to get $10,000 more than she expected, and we would get $5,000 in extra cash to cover our move-in expenses. What do you think of this plan?
bloomberg.com | 9/3/08 | Patricia Hurtado and David Scheer
Two former Credit Suisse Group AG brokers were sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on claims they fraudulently sold subprime securities to clients.
Continue reading "Ex-Credit Suisse Brokers Accused of Subprime Fraud, Sued by SEC" »
ap.google.com | 8/26/08 | J. W. Elphinstone
Reported incidents of mortgage fraud jumped 42 percent nationwide, with Florida reporting the highest number of cases, according to industry data released Monday.
bizjournals.com | 8/18/08 | Staff Writer
Six South Florida residents have pleaded guilty in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme that defrauded several financial institutions out of more than $17 million.
Continue reading "Six plead guilty in $17M mortgage fraud" »
centralohio.com | 8/1/08 | Michelle George
FAIRFIELD COUNTY - A Columbus man sentenced to prison for participating in a $2.5 million theft ring told a Fairfield County judge Thursday he didn't know his actions were criminal until it was too late.
Continue reading "2 men involved in theft ring sentenced to prison" »
fbi.gov | 7/29/08 | Press Release
A Palisades Park man pleaded guilty today for orchestrating a bank fraud scheme involving approximately $20 million of fraudulent home equity and business lines of credit, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.
Continue reading "Ringleader of $20 Million Bank Fraud Scheme Pleads Guilty" »
pe.com | 7/28/08 | Leslie Berkman
A US. District Court judge on Monday set an Aug. 18, 2009, trial date for three Murrieta men that the Securities and Exchange Commission has accused of operating a real estate scam that defrauded at least 95 investors of more than $11 million and forced many into foreclosure.
Continue reading "Trial date set for Murrieta men accused of fraud" »
bizjournals.com | 7/28/08 | Staff Writer
A federal grand jury in Tampa returned a 47-count indictment against three Tampa Bay area businessmen and a lawyer, accusing them of crimes related to a scheme to defraud seven Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insured banks.
Continue reading "Developers, lawyer indicted in $83M mortgage fraud probe" »
miamiherald.com | 7/21/08 | MATTHEW HAGGMAN, ROB BARRY AND JACK DOLAN
Gary Kafka, former body builder with a long rap sheet and violent past, wrote millions of dollars in mortgages in South Florida without ever applying for a state license. Fresh out of prison after serving time for bank fraud, he never went through a criminal background check before selling loans. He never took a competency exam.
Continue reading "Brokers on the fringe: Ex-convicts find niche" »
reuters.com | 7/17/08 | Randall Mikkelsen
Failed bank IndyMac is under investigation by the FBI for possible fraud involving its mortgage lending, unnamed law enforcement officials said on Wednesday.
NPR.org | June 20, 2008 | Dina Temple-Raston
The Justice Department appears to have officially opened the penalty phase of the mortgage debacle in this country. On Thursday, the FBI paraded two indicted Wall Street executives before TV cameras. That same day, the bureau announced the arrests of hundreds of people who allegedly perpetrated mortgage scams nationwide.
Continue reading "FBI Sweep Reveals New Twists to Mortgage Fraud" »
bloomberg.com | 6/19/08 | Robert Schmidt
Federal prosecutors have charged more than 400 people across the U.S. in a crackdown against mortgage fraud, as the government stepped up efforts to address the subprime loan crisis.
Continue reading "U.S. Charges 400 in National Mortgage Fraud Crackdown" »
reuters.com | 6/12/08 | Emily Chasan
NEW YORK, June 12 (Reuters) - A mortgage escrow executive pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal embezzlement charges, admitting he stole more than $13 million in proceeds from mortgage refinancing transactions, prosecutors said.
Continue reading "NY mortgage exec pleads guilty to embezzlement" »
usatoday.com | 6/3/08 | Greg Farrell
LAS VEGAS — In the shadow of Sunrise Mountain, where Rolling Hills Drive turns into Gold Mine Drive, a plain two-story home sits unoccupied, like thousands of other houses here in southern Nevada. Some of these empty homes have "for sale" signs. Others bear signs saying "foreclosure." Authorities say hundreds of them, including this one on Rolling Hills Drive, should have a different sign out front, one that reads "fraud." Prosecutors contend this house was sold last year to a straw buyer as part of a sprawling mortgage fraud perpetrated by a husband-and-wife team involving 277 properties in greater Las Vegas.
Continue reading "Las Vegas called 'mortgage fraud ground zero'" »
npr.org | 5/28/08 | Chris Arnold
Morning Edition, May 27, 2008 · Now that millions of people are facing foreclosure because they got into loans that never should have been approved, everybody's looking for someone to blame. Borrowers, or their brokers, lied on loan applications. Others got high interest rates they couldn't afford. A big unanswered question is whether the Wall Street investment banks that were packaging these mortgages knew they were selling garbage loans to investors. A wave of litigation is starting against these firms. One former worker whose job was to catch bad loans says her supervisors covered them up.
Continue reading "Auditor: Supervisors Covered Up Risky Loans" »
boston.com | 5/17/08 | Kimberly Blanton
The Justice Department yesterday charged two Boston lawyers, seven mortgage brokers, and two others with fraudulently obtaining more than $10.6 million in loans using straw buyers or stolen identities to purchase 21 properties in the Boston area.
Continue reading "11 are charged in $10.6 million loan-fraud scam" »
fbi.gov | 5/13/08 | Press Release
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2007 Mortgage Fraud Report, released today, mortgage fraud Suspicious Activity Reports referred to law enforcement increased 31 percent to 46,717 during Fiscal Year (FY) 2007. The total dollar loss attributed to mortgage fraud is unknown. However, seven percent of reports filed during FY 2007 indicated a specific dollar loss, which totaled more than $813 million.
mercurynews.com | 5/12/08 | Associated Press
LOS ANGELES—A real estate developer pleaded guilty Friday to a mortgage fraud scheme that involved buying houses in some of Southern alifornia's most ritzy neighborhoods and selling them to fake buyers at inflated prices.
Continue reading "SoCal developer pleads guilty to mortgage fraud scheme" »
startribune.com | 5/2/08 | Susan Feydar
Federal investigators have identified the majority development partner in the troubled Sexton condominium project as the central figure in a mortgage fraud scheme involving about one-quarter of the units sold in the downtown Minneapolis building.
fool.com | 4/30/08 | Seth Jayson
An understatement: We are living through a time of considerable market and economic turmoil. Since we stand to see trillions of dollars' worth of assets vaporize in the ensuing mess, we ought to take a look at history to see how we got into it, and how investors can get out.
nationalmortgagenews.com | 4/29/08 | Thomas Inserra
The last mortgage crisis in the U.S. occurred from 1980 to 1995 and involved the failure of 2,912 federally insured financial institutions with combined assets of $924 billion. In an FDIC report prepared afterward, the agency noted that most of the assets of the failed financial institutions were “… secured by real estate mortgages and their disposition was hampered by a nationwide decline in real estate markets.”
bizjournals.com | 4/25/08 | Staff Writer
The three people who organized a $37 million mortgage fraud scheme surrounding condominiums in South Beach were sentenced to prison time on Thursday, the U.S attorney's office said.
Continue reading "Three get prison time for mortage fraud" »
chicagotribune.com | 4/26/08 | Becky Yerak
MB Financial Inc. stock closed down 8.6 percent Friday after the Chicago-based bank holding company was socked by a fivefold increase in the amount of money set aside to cover potential loan losses, contributing to a 68 percent drop in first-quarter earnings.
Continue reading "MB Financial uncovers fraud, sets aside more for losses" »
chicagotribune.com | 4/6/08 | United Feature Syndicate
WASHINGTON—Good news. There are no new mortgage fraud schemes. But the old plots are becoming more intricate, and the perps are more active then ever.
Continue reading "It's same old scam with a different twist" »
boston.com | 4/7/08 | Bob Tedeschi
NEW YORK - Lenders are experiencing a surge in losses from mortgage fraud, according to recent reports from law enforcement agencies and industry research groups. The ripples are reaching borrowers in new ways, as mortgage banks seek to stanch the flow of dollars to con artists.
Continue reading "Losses from loan fraud surging, say industry, FBI" »
bizjournals.com | 3/27/08 | Staff Writer
An Olathe man stands accused of receiving $1.5 million in mortgage loans that were made on appraisals he allegedly falsified, federal prosecutors in Kansas said Thursday.
Continue reading "Olathe man is charged in mortgage fraud" »
Continue reading "U.S. mortgage-fraud cost seen at $2.5 billion a year" »
sfgate.com | 3/24/08 | Aaron C. Davis, AP
Federal prosecutors on Monday announced indictments in a mortgage scheme they say victimized more than 100 homeowners and siphoned off nearly $13 million in home equity.
Continue reading "Calif. prosecutors indict 19 in mortgage fraud scheme" »
bizjournals.com | 3/14/08 | Staff Writer
California ranks No. 4 among states nationwide for mortgage fraud, though that's an improvement from its No. 2 ranking last year, according to a 2007 Mortgage Bankers Association report released Thursday.
Continue reading "California falls to No. 4 in mortgage fraud" »
Continue reading "2 women charged in $23.5M mortgage fraud" »
bizjournals.com | 3/4/08 | Staff Writer
Lazaro Villalba has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire, bank and mail fraud for his involvement in the Southwest Ranches-area fraud scheme in Broward County. Villalba is one of 15 defendants charged with buying homes through straw buyers at an inflated price, and then getting cash back at the closings.
reuters.com | 3/4/08 |Patrick Rucker
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The two largest sources of U.S. mortgage financing agreed on Monday to sponsor a new home appraisal watchdog to prevent inflated home values. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will uphold a new code of conduct meant to keep mortgage lenders at arm's length from home appraisers and will also spend $24 million to jump-start the new oversight body in a deal to prevent lawsuits from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
Continue reading "Fannie, Freddie Agree to New Appraisal Standards" »
nationalmortgagenews.com | 2/27/08 | James Comtois
Rachel Dollar, a partner in the Santa Rosa, Calif.-based law firm Smith Dollar PC and mortgage fraud schemes expert, testified on Feb. 13 before the Senate Special Committee on Aging at a hearing titled, “Foreclosure Aftermath: Preying on Senior Homeowners,” according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Continue reading "Rachel Dollar Testifies on Mortgage Fraud" »