Housing Push for Hispanics Spawns Wave of Foreclosures

California Rep. Joe Baca has long pushed legislation he said would "open the doors to the American Dream" for first-time home buyers in his largely Hispanic district. For many of them, those doors have slammed shut, quickly and painfully.

Mortgage lenders flooded Mr. Baca's San Bernardino, Calif., district with loans that often didn't require down payments, solid credit ratings or documentation of employment. Now, many of the Hispanics who became homeowners find themselves mired in the national housing mess. Nearly 9,200 families in his district have lost their homes to foreclosure.

Congressional districts with large Hispanic populations often feature heavy nonprime lending. See how different districts break down in terms of prime and nonprime home loans.

For years, immigrants to the U.S. have viewed buying a home as the ultimate benchmark of success. Between 2000 and 2007, as the Hispanic population increased, Hispanic homeownership grew even faster, increasing by 47%, to 6.1 million from 4.1 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Over that same period, homeownership nationally grew by 8%. In 2005 alone, mortgages to Hispanics jumped by 29%, with expensive nonprime mortgages soaring 169%, according to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

An examination of that borrowing spree by The Wall Street Journal reveals that it wasn't simply the mortgage market at work. It was fueled by a campaign by low-income housing groups, Hispanic lawmakers, a congressional Hispanic housing initiative, mortgage lenders and brokers, who all were pushing to increase homeownership among Latinos.

The network included Mr. Baca, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, whose district is 58% Hispanic and ranks No. 5 among all congressional districts in percentage of home loans not tailored for prime borrowers. The caucus launched a housing initiative called Hogar -- Spanish for home

Husband And Wife Plead Guilty To Massive Florida Straw Buyer Scheme

FR Posted by Staff Reporter on 06/02/08 at 03:25 AM

Juan and Rachael Torrens pled guilty to conspiracy charges in connection with their participation in a recent multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme in South Florida. The defendants acknowledged as part of their guilty plea that their scheme produced over $15,000,000 in fraudulent loans, and resulted in losses of over $5,000,000 to various lenders.

With Juan and Rachael Torrens‘ guilty pleas, 15 of the original 31 defendants charged have pled guilty.

As previously reported by Mortgage Fraud Blog, defendants Juan Torrens, the de facto owner of Amsouth Trust & Investment Corp. (”Amsouth”) and president of Countryside Land & Development, Inc., Rachael Torrens, president of 1st Choice Realty of South Florida, Inc. and de facto owner of First United Mortgage USA Corp., Daniel Ramos, Alfonso A. Muxo, a State of Florida certified real estate appraiser and owner of Palm Bay Real Estate Appraisals, Inc., and Katherine Harris, former president and part owner of Floridian Home Title Corporation, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and/or wire fraud for their participation in this massive mortgage fraud scheme.

The scheme involved fraudulent mortgage loans obtained for the purchase of 28 properties located in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, Florida, and in the City of Marco Island. All except Katherine Harris have already pled guilty, and are awaiting sentence.

The Indictment also charges defendants Mario E. Diaz, Aurelio Pozo, Oscar Barreiro, Lellany Rordriguez, Jose Asensi, Carlos Morales, Damaris Jimenez, Lizabeth Perez, Mario Blanco, Rene Rodriguez, Tamaris Angulo, Alicia Loaiza, Ester Crespo, Jesus Enrique Guevara, Janette Lugo, Priscilla Fleitas, Erick Clavijo, Luis DeJesus Planas, Moises Llorens, Milva Roque, Aurora Ramentol, Gladys Lens, Nancy Fundora, Yanny Cruz Pavon, Roger Rosario and Jacqueline Perez-Castillo ("the straw buyer defendants") with wire fraud for their participation in this mortgage fraud scheme.

To date, guilty pleas have been entered by defendants Aurelio Pozo, Oscar Barreiro, Carlos Morales, Damaris Jimenez, Mario Blanco, Jesus Enrique Guevara, Janette Lugo, Priscilla Fleitas, Moises Llorens, Gladys Lens, and Roger Rosario.

According to the Indictment, Juan Torrens would identify sellers of residential properties who were willing to overstate the true selling price of their properties. Daniel Ramos and Juan Torrens would then recruit and pay the straw buyer defendants to pose as buyers and ostensibly participate in the purchase of the selected properties.

Defendants Rachael Torrens and Juan Torrens would prepare fraudulent mortgage loan applications for the straw purchasers that included false employment verifications, pay stubs, income and funds on deposit, and IRS Forms W-2.

Thereafter, to support the overstated sales prices on the properties and the fraudulent mortgage applications, defendant Alonso A. Muxo would prepare fraudulent appraisals attesting to the inflated property values dictated by Juan Torrens. Roger Rosario, an employee of Regions Bank, assisted the fraud by providing, on at least one occasion, a fraudulent verification of deposit in connection with a mortgage loan application for one of the straw buyer defendants.

To effectuate the scheme, defendants Juan Torrens and Rachael Torrens, together with the straw buyer defendants, would create and submit to the banks and lending institutions HUD-Settlement Statement Forms, also known as HUD-1s, which falsely stated that the straw buyers brought their own funds to the closings.

Once the mortgage applications were approved, the lenders would wire the loan proceeds to the title company, Floridian Home Title, for closing.

At closing, Amsouth, a company owned and controlled by Juan Torrens, would receive a credit for the difference between the inflated price and the actual selling price of the property. Defendants Juan and Rachael Torrens would make the payments on the mortgage loans to maintain the loans afloat until the properties could be resold again, often to another straw buyer.

When the Torrenses failed to make payments on the loans, some properties went into foreclosure, resulting in substantial losses to the lending institutions.

SOURCE http://www.mortgagefraudblog.com/index.php/weblog/comments/husband_and_wife_plead_guilty_to_massive_florida_straw_buyer_scheme/

Pres-elect Obama, lawyer for community organizers--ACORN-- was party to battering banks with lawsuits, forcing bank loans to marginal people. Food stamps were deemed an income gauge in some cases. Millions of illegal aliens got mortgages with no proof of income or citizenship. They were never asked for proof of employment, pay stubs, etc. As long as they had a pulse, and could write the name of one of their stolen identities, they got a mortgage.

Illegal con artists promptly flipped the homes among family members for ever-higher prices and mortgages(duping banks at every turn). With enough stolen money to retire in luxury, the last illegal mortgage-holder defaulted and absconded to Mexico leaving banks (and taxpayers) holding the bag. Screwing Americans gets a lotta laughts over tequila shots in downtown Tiujana.

Stupid politicians aided and abetted illegal invasions, copping out of responsibility, figuring US taxpayers would pay the bills. Obama and ACORN made sure illegal criminals got loans. So let's all thank Pres Obama for all the toxic mortgages that led to the Wall Street meltdown--and the never-ending billion dollar bailouts (/s).

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Keep in mind, the Mexican government is rigorously working trying to undermine our nation.

Juan Hernandez----- McC's Hispanic Outreach man---- told Cong Tancredo: " By populating the United States with millions of Hispanics who are tied economically, politically and linguistically to Mexico, we are able to exert enormous influence and pressure on U.S. policy and its dealings with Mexico."

The US has been literally invaded and is being occupied by foreign governments.

Thanks to suckup politicians, we are subsidizing our own destruction. Vote-crazed pols are mesmerized by the (fraudulent) voting numbers being tossed around....... their gonads are being squeezed by propaganda emanating from south of the border.

California Rep. Joe Baca has long pushed legislation he said would “open the doors to the American Dream” for first-time home buyers in his largely Hispanic district. For many of them, those doors have slammed shut, quickly and painfully.

Here in Texas, I was sitting at a traffic light with my wife when we noticed a sign on the side of the road advertising for “Sugarberry Farms” a housing development.

The sign read, “No Documentas, No Problemos”

No documents, no problem......how nice. Homes for illegals.

My wife and I were stunned. I hope these banks offering these loans to illegals collapse and go outta business.

What's wrong with America.....is it truly all about a dollar.

Does the national security of our nation take a back seat to the almighty buck?

Congress are a bunch of back stabbin traitors in allowing all these illegals to remain here that hold no true allegiance to this country.

Suckin the juice of life out of our nation.

Just damn

"we are subsidizing our own destruction."

Couldn't be said loud enough. I removed every cent from my (nationally known) bank two years ago, when I realized they were giving credit cards and mortgages without collateral to illegal immigrants.

I told the bank manager they were going to cause the collapse of the banking system as we know it, and I would not support that. No one listened.

IMHO, the border should have been sealed tightly on 9/12/2001, and all tax dollars should have been removed from subsidizing the freebie life-style the illegals so enjoy.

We should have started protecting our country from invasion from every illegal alien, no mater what country they snuck in from.

Now, Gov. Schwartznegger wants to cut a week of education from all students in CA schools - to make up the monetary defecit in CA, yet supports handing out "free" medical care, food stamps, subsidized housing, education, WIC to all illegals, at taxpayer's expense.

Liz is right. "We are subsidizing our own destruction".

So are you saying that a private enterprise such as a bank should be forced to do business with anyone because of their skin color? It’s identical to saying that the government can force individuals to marry someone of a certain race, or that I must hire someone because of their ethnicity.

Discrimination may hurt someone’s feelings and/or their economic status, but nonetheless it is the backbone of wisdom and prudent decisions. And it should be carried out by individuals, not by government authorities.

Just because some do a poor job of properly discriminating for or against whatever individual or group based on whatever criteria (which should after all remain a purely personal preference), doesn’t mean any authority should be able to prohibit discrimination in any form.

Am I misreading you in my comprehending that you are saying that “redlining” is wrong?

Obviously the forcing of banks to do the complete opposite of redlining doesn’t solve the problem of individuals who don’t repay loans, as you point out. My argument is that it should be the prerogative of the private enterprise, the bank, as to how to address the problem, as insurance companies are allowed to do.

It’s common sense to completely avoid bad neighborhoods, in any given circumstances. Just because there are good individuals to be found therein doesn’t mean the government should be able to force me or anyone else to go there and seek them out at certain dire risk.

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