Rocky Mountain Mortgage Fraud Fever

Homeland Stupidity ^ | December 11, 2006 | Carola Von Hoffmannstahl-Solomonoff

[Clintonfatigued]

District Attorney Scott Storey of Jefferson County, Colorado is one busy lawman. The local housing market is chock full of mortgage fraud varmints. One particularly pesky ring, operating for roughly 5 years, recruited hundreds of illegal immigrants to act as “straw buyers,” the lowest players in the mortgage fraud game. Ringmasters were mortgage brokers, realtors, and loan officers in local banks. Straw buyers were supplied with stolen identities, including drivers licenses, social security cards, and income tax returns. Some were given green cards of legal immigrants. What couldn’t be stolen was forged.

False docs in hand, straw buyers obtained mortgage loans they had no intention of paying. Some 300 single family homes in Jefferson County and the adjoining Denver area are known to have been involved. In 191 transactions every single qualifying document was fake. So far, 38% of the mortgage loans have gone into foreclosure. Millions of dollars have been lost.

Tuff luck for lenders? Not as much as you’d think. The mortgages were insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), a sub agency of the U.S. Department Of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Taxpayers picked up the bad. Expect them to pick up more. D.A. Scott Storey believes thousands of other properties were obtained by the same ring and that similar frauds are widespread in the Denver area. And in an August 24th Denver Post article, “FHA program key in surge of foreclosures,” a government source estimated that “20,000 illegal immigrants hold FHA mortgages in metro Denver alone.”

[traviskicks]

The mortgages were insured by the Federal Housing Administration

Libertarian ping! To be added or removed freepmail me or post a message here.

[ex-Texan]

Thanks for the *Ping* ! . . . Please take a peek here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/~extexan/

[AmericanInTokyo]

Yep. You told us so.

[HiJinx]

Relevant Old News Ping!

[sweetiepiezer]

thanks for the ping.

[PGalt]

In 191 transactions every single qualifying document was fake. (Fake but accurate?)

Thanks for the ping. BUMP! Thanks to every poster on this thread. The productive are ALWAYS paying for the damage of the destructive.

[PGalt]

Interesting article about a couple that did sub-prime loans...here...

http://jobs.aol.com/article/_a/nursing-recession-proof-job-market/20080402155209990002?ncid=AOLCOMMjobsDYNLprim0001

[traviskicks]

thanks, interesting charts you have there, like the inflation one especially. :)

[zeugma]

Bump!

[Eagle Eye]

Probably no more than Neil Bush and the Silverado S&L closures back in the 80’s.

[investigateworld]

Ah yes, I remember those days, Tex. You were called a “blog pimp” and I'm told I was a toothless charity case LOL !!

[ex-Texan]

The people who were shouting the loudest were mortgage pimps and/ or real estate pimps. Hundreds of hacking attacks were launched against me by criminals from corporate sites.

[investigateworld]

I tend to measure a man via the character of his enemies. So take a bow.