Dec 17, 2007 10:28 pm US/Eastern
Mortgage Fraud Bust Nets Husband And Wife Arrests
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Mortgagees who inflate the numbers when applying for a home loan in order to cash in on a profit are the new target of the U.S. Attorney's Office in South Florida, and if you are one of the people who facilitate this, you too may be in trouble.
Several husband and wife teams are facing jail time because of the scheme, that netted millions of dollars in fraudulent loan money. This includes Juan Torrens, the de facto owner of Amsouth Trust & Investment Corp. and president of Countryside Land & Development, Inc., and Rachael Torrens, president of 1st Choice Realty of South Florida, Inc. and de facto owner of First United Mortgage USA Corp.
"In essence the defendants would collect loans from banks for more than the amount that they actually used to pay to buy the property," said U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta. "They would then take that difference as an illegal profit."
Acosta says the scheme involves dirty appraisers, bank employees, title agents and straw buyers, all willing to work for a fee.
He also says that this hurts many homebuyers are robbed of the opportunity to acquire a loan because the banks don't have enough money to go around.
In September the U.S. Attorney's Office in South Florida created the Mortgage Fraud Task Force, which has since netted 55 arrests.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
