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Federal authorities were rounding up Tuesday morning 10 people, including singer Aldo Matta and a local developer, after a federal grand jury indicted them in a $15 million mortgage fraud scheme, FBI Special Agent in Charge Luis Fraticelli said. U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez scheduled an 11:30 a.m. press conference to discuss the arrests, which reportedly took place in San Juan, Bayamón, Caguas and the state of Florida. The victims of the fraud were reportedly several local financial institutions, the FBI chief said. The indictments were handed up Oct 30. “These people were dedicated to a fraud scheme that took...

Some of my best friends have worked for ACORN. They are honest, dedicated and moral individuals who appreciated the mission of this group, which has done so much good for some of our poorest citizens. So I take it personally when Congress reduces ACORN to an object lesson about the purported immorality of some community organizers. ACORN isn't perfect. Both its loose organizational supervision and occasional zealotry of its organizers have led to abuses. But Congress has been extremely hypocritical and biased in cutting off federal funds. When two conservative activists posed as a pimp and a prostitute and with...

Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee agreed Friday night on language for a wide-reaching subpoena of Countrywide Financial’s VIP lending program as part of an investigation into allegations of influence peddling by the company at all levels of government, committee aides said. The subpoena, which was sent out Friday night, will ask the lender to fork over documents relating to its “Friends of Angelo” program – named for CEO Angelo Mozilo, who allegedly offered favorable mortgage rates to persons of influence.

BALTIMORE, MD—A federal grand jury has indicted Jay Leonard, age 43, of Alexandria, Virginia, today for mail and wire fraud in connection with scheme involving the fraudulent purchase of 25 properties in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia and a scheme to solicit investors for a resort property that did not exist, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. The indictment was returned on August 11, 2009 and Leonard is scheduled to have his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Baltimore today at 3:00 p.m. According to the nine count indictment, February 2006...

GREENBELT, MD—U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Earnest Lewis, age 52, of Takoma Park, Maryland, today to 54 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud arising from a scheme in which the conspirators offered to help financially vulnerable individuals save their homes from foreclosure, and instead defrauded homeowners and mortgage lenders, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Lewis previously agreed to forfeit $2,228,878, generated as proceeds of the criminal activity and Judge Chasanow will rule on that and the restitution amount at a later...

NEWARK, NJ—It’s the type of story that is becoming increasingly more common: FBI Special Agent In Charge Weysan Dun announced today the arrests of GARTH CELESTINE, age 44, of 535 Dean Street, Apartment 515, Brooklyn, New York; and PHIL A. SIMON, age, 34, of Brooklyn – both better known collectively as “Home Savers Consulting Corporation”. Both were arrested this morning at their residences without incident and charged with attempt and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a home foreclosure scheme. Celestine and Simon owned and operated Home Savers, which held itself out as a foreclosure rescue company, at...

Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Michael K. Fithen, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service, Antonio J. Gomez, Acting Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Miami Division, Michael J. Folmar, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Jon T. Rymer, Inspector General, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG), Kenneth M. Donohue, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-Office of Inspector General (HUD-OIG), Miami Field Office, Linda Charity, Acting Commissioner, State of Florida Office of Financial Regulation, and Robert Parker, Director, Miami-Dade Police Department, announced...

NEWARK, NJ—FBI Special Agent In Charge Weysan Dun announced today the arrest of Daniel Verdia, Don Apolito, Jaye Miller, and Chrystal Paling (all on Tuesday, July 21), as well as the surrender of Robert Gorman and Philip Blanch (on Friday, July 24)—all in connection with a mortgage fraud scam operated out of an office in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. All of the arrests occurred without incident. The six defendants are each charged with one count of wire fraud, in a joint investigation between the FBI and IRS titled “Operation Follow The Money.” The investigation centered around activities occurring between February...

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Richard A. Forde, also known as Euburn Richard Forde, age 51, formerly of Great Falls, Va., was sentenced today to 42 months in prison for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme from approximately December 2001 to January 2004. Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; W. Clarkson McDow, Jr., United States Trustee; and Joseph Persichini Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Anthony J. Trenga. In addition his prison term, Forde was sentenced to three years of supervised release...

SPRINGFIELD, MO—Matt J. Whitworth, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former mortgage broker pleaded guilty in federal court today to her role in a $500,000 mortgage fraud scheme. Cheryl Joan Kassebaum, 43, of Ozark, Mo., pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. England to the charges contained in a Nov. 20, 2008, federal indictment. Kassebaum, a former mortgage broker and co-owner of Metro Consulting Group, admitted that she participated in a scheme to defraud home mortgage lenders from March to July 2006. Kassebaum participated in a conspiracy to obtain mortgage loans for...

HOUSTON—An 11-count sealed indictment charging conspiracy and wire fraud has been unsealed following the arrests of Claymon "Butch" Trammell, Michelle Trammell, and Jeannettea Williams, United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced today. Claymon Trammell operated real estate and home repair companies in the Houston area. Michelle Trammell, Claymon Trammell's daughter, operated as a mortgage broker while Jeannettea Williams, Claymon Trammell's wife, operated as a real estate agent. Claymon Trammell, 59, of Manvel, Texas; Michelle Trammell, 37, of Katy, Texas; and Jeannettea Williams, 54, of Manvel, Texas, are charged for their alleged involvement in a scheme to defraud residential mortgage lenders out...

ORLANDO, FL—United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton announces that Garry S. Martin (age 36, of Orlando) has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit money laundering in connection with various mortgage fraud schemes. Martin faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. According to the plea agreement, Martin was convicted in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in 2006 for engaging in mortgage fraud. Martin had made several applications to secure mortgages from Citimortgage, Inc., a subsidiary of CitiBank. Those applications contained several false statements, including inflated values for the borrower’s income and...

GREENBELT, MD—U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced Kurt Fordham, age 39, of Ft. Washington, Maryland, today to 10 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme that falsely promised to help homeowners facing foreclosure keep their homes and repair their damaged credit, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Judge Titus also ordered Fordham to pay restitution of $13,131,287.63, and forfeit three residential properties in Oxon Hill, Capitol Heights and Laurel, Maryland, and three vehicles. According to...

CHICAGO—Forty-one defendants are facing federal charges relating to various mortgage fraud schemes in five separate cases made public today by federal law enforcement officials. In some of the schemes, the defendants were charged with falsely inflating the values of dilapidated homes in urban areas. Other schemes feature a twist where defendants were charged with deals involving million-dollar condominiums in a Chicago high-rise and sprawling homes in affluent suburbs. A total of 37 individuals and four businesses, including a title company that closed on allegedly fraudulent loans, are facing new federal charges relating to mortgage fraud in five separate cases in...

A federal grand jury has indicted 10 people in an alleged mortgage-fraud scheme that allowed them to obtain $17.2 million in loans to buy condominiums in a downtown high-rise. Acting together, the investors provided false information about their employment, income and assets to secure the loans to finance seven condos and two townhomes at Millennium Centre, a 59-story tower at 33 W. Ontario St., according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The indictment is one of five mortgage-fraud cases involving more than $48 million in loans that the U.S. attorney’s office announced Tuesday

John E. Murphy, Acting United States Attorney, announced that a federal jury this morning returned a guilty verdict against a San Antonio woman, who claimed to be a foreclosure prevention specialist, on seven counts each of criminal contempt and mail fraud. The jury found that since January 2000, 55-year-old Rosario Divins of San Antonio engaged in a fraudulent foreclosure prevention scheme. Testimony during the three-day trial revealed that Divins unjustly enriched herself by collecting over $100,000 in cash from individuals in desperate financial situations who responded to her mailout offering to stop their residential foreclosures. Divins continued to implement her...

PHILADELPHIA—Mahn Huu Doan, a/k/a "Bruce Doan", 40, of Philadelphia, was sentenced today to 151 months in prison for a massive mortgage fraud and identity theft scheme, announced United States Attorney Michael L. Levy. Doan, a self-described real estate investor, would purchase houses, using false or borrowed identities, using government insured loans which he secured using fraudulent information. Doan's scheme also involved fraudulent appraisals that inflated the value of the houses for the purpose of resell the properties for a higher profit. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson also ordered Doan to pay more than...

NEWARK, N.J.—A Montclair man pleaded guilty today to mail and wire fraud and money laundering charges in connection with a $139 million fraud scheme that bankrupted Pine Brook-based U.S. Mortgage Corp. and its subsidiary, CU National Mortgage, LLC, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr. announced. Michael J. McGrath, Jr., 46, the former president and director of U.S. Mortgage, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden to one count of mail and wire fraud conspiracy, which carries a statutory maximum prison sentence of 20 years, and one count of money laundering conspiracy, which carries a statutory maximum prison...

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that defendant Jose G. Martin was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Cooke to sixty five months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Judge Cooke also ordered a restitution hearing to determine the identity of the victims to be paid by Martin in connection with the $3,198,278 in restitution for losses that resulted from Martin’s participation in a mortgage fraud scheme. Defendant Jose G. Martin was arrested...

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Miami Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, Miami Field Office, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, John Timoney, Chief, City of Miami Police Department, and Robert Parker, Director, Miami-Dade County Police Department, announce the unsealing of a fifty-nine (59) count Indictment charging three South Florida residents and a real estate brokerage corporation with participating in a long term mortgage fraud scheme designed to launder drug money. The defendants made their initial appearances in federal court on...

GREENBELT, MD—Ronald Aaron Chapman, Jr., age 34, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme that falsely promised to help homeowners facing foreclosure keep their homes and repair their damaged credit, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. According to his plea agreement, in May 2005, co-defendants Joy Jackson and Jennifer McCall incorporated Metropolitan Money Store (MMS), located in Lanham, Maryland, which offered foreclosure consultation and credit services to financially distressed homeowners. From September 2004 to June 2007, Chapman and others conspired...

Four individuals suspected of a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme in Shelbyville, Tennessee, were arrested today, without incident, by special agents of the Knoxville Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Chattanooga Resident Agency and investigators with the Bedford County Sheriff's Office (BCSO). William Thomas McMahan, age 52, of Murfreesboro; Roger Dwight Ritch, age 52, of Shelbyville; Carrie Cameron Galvin Snow, age 40, of Murfreesboro; and Jonathan B. Henderson, age 39, of Murfreesboro were indicted by the federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Tennessee in Chattanooga and charged with one count of violating Title 18 United States...

CINCINNATI—A Dayton father and son pleaded guilty in United States District Court here for their roles in an extensive mortgage fraud scheme that affected 210 residential properties, including 205 in Montgomery County. Edward McGee, 74, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and Kenneth O. McGee, 49, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Keith L. Bennett, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation; Jose Gonzalez, Special Agent...

DAYTON—A federal grand jury here has indicted Gregory S. Chew, 41, of Waynesville on one count of money laundering and 24 counts of illegally structuring currency transactions in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme. Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Jose A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS); Keith L. Bennett, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and other members of the Greater Dayton Mortgage Fraud Task Force announced the indictment returned today. According to court documents, Chew, doing business under the names RB, Inc., and...

Now-Failed Omni National Bank Was One of Many Banks That Funded Millions of Dollars in Loans for Convicted Mortgage Fraudster ATLANTA, GA—MARK ANTHONY MCBRIDE, 43, a/k/a “Charles Conley,” “Charles Conley, Jr.,” and “Manuel Evans,” of East Point, Georgia, pleaded guilty today in federal district court to a conspiracy to obtain millions of dollars in fraudulent mortgages and other loans and to a bankruptcy fraud designed to stay foreclosures on dozens of fraudulently obtained properties. United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said, “We are moving with dispatch to review bank failures and to investigate and prosecute any frauds we find that...

CINCINNATI—Kamal J. Gregory, 35, of Centerville, pleaded guilty in United States District Court here today to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Gregory committed the crimes in connection with an extensive mortgage fraud scheme affecting 210 residential properties, including 205 located in Montgomery County. The scheme affected 63 investors and led to foreclosure against owners of more than 90 percent of the properties. Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Keith L. Bennett, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau...

After writing several articles about this country’s mortgage meltdown and the little-talked about role which illegal aliens have played in this crisis, a woman who I will call “Mary” contacted me with inside information on the crisis. What follows is a brief interview I conducted with Mary. (I am protecting her identity because she still works in the mortgage business.) Q) What is your background and who have you worked for? A) I am in the Mortgage Industry and personally audited thousands of sub prime loans while working as a contractor. The last company I worked for was EMC, previously...

HOUSTON—Nehemiah Jamal Douglas, 28, of Houston, has pleaded guilty to mail and wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering charges, acting United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced today. Douglas admitted to conspiring with others to defraud residential mortgage lenders by misstating facts relevant to the lending decisions. Douglas worked as a loan officer at two Houston area mortgage broker firms, Motown Mortgage Group and Central Capital Financial Group, where fraudulent loan applications and other fraudulent documents were prepared to induce mortgage lenders to provide 100% financing for homes the borrower’s falsely claimed were to be their primary residences. Douglas himself purchased...

GAINESVILLE, GA—ANDREW JOHN SMITH, 29, of Cleveland, Georgia, was sentenced today by United States District Judge William C. O’Kelley to serve over 3 years in prison on a federal charge of conspiracy to commit bank, wire and mail fraud arising from a mortgage fraud scheme. United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said of the case, “We will continue to use undercover ‘sting’ operations to stop the closing of fraudulent loans before the proceeds are disbursed, especially when a loss of over a million dollars to such frauds could seriously impact the lending banks during these difficult times. We remain committed...

Join us for an appearance by Senator Chris Dodd and Representative Joe Courtney for Health Care Forum. Find out about the health care plan. A great opportunity to show Dodd and Courtney how you feel about their performance in Washington.

DELAWARE, Ohio — A Powell woman who was called the "queen" of mortgage fraud pleaded guilty on Tuesday and was sentenced to prison. Gihan "Gigi" Zalat faces deportation upon completion of her sentence, according to the Delaware County prosecutor's office. Zalat, 41, pleaded guilty to eight felony charges, including three counts engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and five counts of money laundering. On Monday, alleged ring member Scott McCann, 46, of Upper Arlington, pleaded guilty to charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and money laundering. He is scheduled for to be sentenced on April 13....

The largest mortgage fraud case in the history of the Sacramento region is playing out in federal court this month, amid allegations that a Roseville firm fleeced hundreds of investors nationwide for at least $100 million. Prosecutors remain tight-lipped on many aspects of the case and have not identified the investors. Two of the three men charged were recently captured after fleeing the country, one in Barcelona, Spain, the other in Canada. The third, also a fugitive, remains at large. But federal documents filed in the case lay out the government's allegations, weaving the tale of a complex financial scheme...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://baltimore.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/ba021209.htm THIRD DEFENDANT IN MORTGAGE FRAUD SCHEME PLEADS GUILTY AND TWO MORE DEFENDANTS INDICTED Terrence White Admits to Paying Over 15 Straw Purchasers, Using False Documents to Buy 25 Properties and Receiving Over $3.8 Million in Fraud Proceeds;Six Defendants Have Been Charged in Fraudulent Loan Scheme Totaling Approximately $18 Million Baltimore, Maryland -Terrence White, age 35, of Oxon Hill, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to mail fraud arising from the fraudulent purchase of 25 properties in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia using false mortgage and settlement documents, announced United States Attorney for...

Mortgage volume may have fallen last year, but not incidences of fraud. In fact, according to a recent report from the Mortgage Asset Research Institute in Reston, Va., occurrences of fraud among loan officers, brokers and other industry professionals actually outpaced 2007 levels by 45 percent in the second quarter of 2008, the most recent reporting period. The Research Institute, a consulting firm, does not release specific figures, which it compiles from surveys of lenders that make most of the nation’s mortgages each year. The report, released in early December, found that 36 percent of the fraudulent mortgage activity involved...

A news-talk radio station in New Haven, Connecticut, is refusing to air a spirited interview between a conservative host and the powerful chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Chris Dodd. NBC News reports that a federal criminal investigation into possible wrongdoing by mortgage giant Countrywide Home Loans now includes scrutiny of Countrywide's VIP program that gave special mortgage deals to government officials, including Senators Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota) and Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut). Connecticut conservative radio talk-show host Tom Scott says up until now, fellow senators and the media have not questioned Dodd about his personal scandal. "I have asserted publicly...

The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development says there is no basis to news reports that more than 5 million bad mortgages are held by illegal immigrants. A HUD spokesman said Thursday his agency has no data showing the number of illegal immigrants holding foreclosed or bad mortgages. But news reports, including one aired on KFYI-AM 550 in Phoenix, cite HUD as a source for the illegal immigrant mortgage number. The widely read “Drudge Report” posted a link to the KFYI report, but as of Thursday afternoon the link no longer connected to the story. Anti-immigration groups point to...

One illegal alien was arrested this year in Tucson after allegedly using a stolen social security number to buy two homes and rack up over $780,000 in bad debt. Some five million fraudulent home mortgages are in the hands of illegal aliens, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It's not known how many of those have contributed to the subprime housing mortgage meltdown, but it has affected every state, including Arizona. The problem began years ago when banks were forced to give mortgages without confirming social security numbers or borrower identification. As a result, illegal immigrants...

The Mother of All Bailouts has many fathers. As panicked politicians prepare to fork over $1 trillion in taxpayer funding to rescue the financial industry, they've fingered regulation, deregulation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Community Reinvestment Act, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, both Bushes, greedy banks, greedy borrowers, greedy short-sellers and minority home ownership mau-mauers (can't call 'em greedy, that would be racist) for blame. But there's one giant paternal elephant in the room that has slipped notice: how illegal immigration, crime-enabling banks and open-borders Bush policies fueled the mortgage crisis. It's no coincidence that most of the areas hardest...

The FBI has identified the Twin Cities as one of the 10 worst areas of the United States for mortgage fraud and said it has literally dozens of criminal investigations underway here as part of a national crackdown on the problem. Deputy U.S. Attorney General Mark Filip and FBI Director Robert Mueller called a news conference Thursday afternoon in Washington to announce a special enforcement effort targeting mortgage fraud and mortgage-related securities fraud. The multi-agency initiative is called Operation Malicious Mortgage. From March 1 through June 18, the government charged 406 defendants in 144 mortgage fraud cases around the country....

Mortgage fraud schemes rose 31 percent last year and will likely keep rising in 2008, FBI says The agency said Tuesday that reports of suspected mortgage fraud rose 31 percent to 46,717 in fiscal 2007... That was up from 35,617 in the previous fiscal year. That number "is just the tip of the iceberg, reflecting only a small percentage of financial damage suffered by victims of mortgage fraud," Florida led the led the nation in mortgage fraud in 2007 for the second straight year, followed by Nevada, Michigan, California, Utah and Georgia.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The fat compensation packages of three U.S. CEOs whose companies are being hammered by the widening mortgage crisis came under harsh criticism on Friday at a congressional hearing on executive pay. In the last two quarters of 2007 alone, the three executives' firms lost more than $20 billion on investments in subprime and other risky mortgages, said the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Operations Committee. Yet the three took home fortunes in 2007 -- $120 million for Countrywide Financial Corp CEO Angelo Mozilo; a $161 million retirement package for ex-Merrill Lynch CEO Stanley O'Neal; and $39.5...

Two mortgage company employees were arrested yesterday for their role in a multimillion-dollar mortgage and identity theft scam in Queens and Long Island, police sources said...Two mortgage company employees were arrested yesterday for their role in a multimillion-dollar mortgage and identity theft scam in Queens and Long Island, police sources said...Griffin director and business manager, Jacob Milton, 41, is a Bangladeshi immigrant who has a cable talk show. On the wall of the Jackson Heights office are several pictures of him with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and President Bill Clinton.

BEVERLY HILLS - Two real estate agents indicted for their alleged participation in a mortgage fraud scheme have been suspended by their employer, Prudential California Realty. Joseph Babajian and Kyle Grasso, who often work together and are among the top-producing real estate agents in Southern California, have been ordered not to conduct any real estate transactions until the federal case against them has been resolved. Each denies wrongdoing. Before their recent suspension, the pair had more than $65 million in residential real estate listed for sale. Babajian was recently reported to be a co-listing agent on a 15,000- square-foot Beverly...

With the housing market in decline, financial predators are finding yet another way to take advantage of people who fall behind on their payments. Shakeela Muhammad signed up for a mortgage program to save her home. The company stopped making payments, and she faces foreclosure. The schemes take various forms and often involve promises to distressed homeowners of cash upfront, free monthly rent and a chance to retain their houses in the long run. But in the process, someone else takes over the deed, borrows as much as possible against the value of the house and pockets the cash. And,...

Foreclosures putting downward pressure on prices It is a tidy, sharp looking home. The Mossdale neighborhood west of Interstate 5 is clean and desirable. It has more than 2,200 square feet of bright living space and is less than two years old. If you had bought it 15 months ago you would have paid in excess of $600,000. Now that home bought with 100 percent financing is in foreclosure. The lender is willing to take $379,900. Five miles away at Del Webb at Woodbridge, home sales are brisk in the planned community restricted to residents 55 and older. Since sales...

A man arrested in December at the Kansas City airport with $70,000 in his bulging pockets while trying to board a Southwest Airlines flight claiming the money was actually Muslim prayer books, a San Francisco mortgage company executive who went on the run from the FBI in November, seven people arrested in September in Salt Lake City with ties to al-Qaeda, and a co-defendant in the Sami al-Arian/Palestinian Islamic Jihad trial all have one thing in common – the growing trend of terrorist associations with mortgage fraud rings in the US. Financial experts say that mortgage fraud has become the...

A white-collar crime wave is raking Chicago's poorest communities, robbing vulnerable families of their homes and draining billions of dollars from the U.S. economy. During the last five years, as home loans became easier than ever to get and identity theft blossomed, mortgage fraud surged. FBI officials say it now threatens to become a national financial epidemic. Gang members call it "the new street hustle." "If you are still making money selling drugs, you are an informant or about to be busted. Mortgage fraud is the thing to do now," said convicted identity thief Christopher Scott in a prison interview....

The FBI says it happens more in Georgia than in any other state...and you could end up losing your home because of it. It's called mortgage fraud.Maybe someone steals your identity and takes out a loan, or maybe your company tacks on illegal fees. 12 On Your Side's Jeff Anderson tells you how not to be a victim. Shirley Alvarez made a career out of serving her country in the military. But after she got back from her last stint overseas in Korea, she says she got a nasty surprise."They told me I missed a mortgage payment," she said. She...

Recently, a developer regaled me with a story about a house that seemed to be cursed. * * * Buyers got cold feet or moved -- one was even arrested. By the time the fourth deal collapsed, the developer was in a state of financial panic. So, when one of the mortgage brokers who had helped a previous prospective buyer called with a new one who would close the deal for -- get this -- $100,00 over the asking price, he naturally jumped at the offer. "The catch was that I had to give the $100K back to them after...

INDIANAPOLIS - The nation's largest home lender, Countrywide Financial Corp., is suing an Indianapolis man for allegedly orchestrating a mortgage fraud scheme in which dozens of Virginia residents were tricked into buying homes in Indiana at inflated prices. ADVERTISEMENT The Calabasas, Calif.-based company alleges that Robert Penn worked with relatives in Virginia and associates that included appraisers and mortgage companies to defraud the victims. Countrywide has not listed the total number of loans or their value in its lawsuit documenting about 100 properties. But an Indianapolis real estate agent estimated the alleged scheme involving Penn and his associates could total...