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13 Indicted In $100 Million Mortgage Fraud Case
NPR ^ | 09 July 2009 | Lisa Chow

Posted on 07/09/2009 1:34:24 PM PDT by BGHater

Prosecutors in New York have charged 13 people with running a massive mortgage fraud scheme. They say everyone was in on the alleged scheme: lawyers, appraisers and mortgage brokers.

According to the indictment, mortgage company AFG Financial Group, based on Long Island, targeted properties whose owners were starting to default on their mortgages.

The company recruited "straw buyers" — people with good credit scores — to apply for a loan to buy the target property, while promising the distressed owners that they'd get to stay in the home.

The indictment says they paid appraisers to inflate the value of the property. Then they allegedly paid off lawyers to represent all parties: the seller, the buyer and the bank at the closing.

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau says the group fraudulently obtained $100 million in mortgage loans.

"One of the morals of this case is there is no free lunch," Morgenthau says. "People with distressed properties thought they were being bailed out. They didn't look carefully at all at what the transaction was."

Morgenthau says 25 people were involved in the scheme, and 12 already have pleaded guilty.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Government; US: New York
KEYWORDS: economy; fraud; housing; mortgage; mortgauge

1 posted on 07/09/2009 1:34:25 PM PDT by BGHater
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To: BGHater

This has been going on all over the country and is still going on. This is merely the tip of the iceberg.


2 posted on 07/09/2009 1:39:15 PM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: BGHater

There are about 13(THOUSAND) crooks in the mortgage meltdown scams.


3 posted on 07/09/2009 1:40:14 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Pray for, and support our troops(heroes) !! And vote out the RINO's!!)
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To: BGHater
Barney Frank is the ringleader of all of this, and should be indicted, tried and given the death penalty after being convicted.
4 posted on 07/09/2009 1:41:56 PM PDT by Syncro
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To: BGHater

The real culprit is the fed.


5 posted on 07/09/2009 1:47:32 PM PDT by taxtruth
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To: BGHater

But when Obama’s government promises to help home owners refinance at 125%+ the value of their homes it isn’t fraud...


6 posted on 07/09/2009 1:49:57 PM PDT by coconutt2000 (NO MORE PEACE FOR OIL!!! DOWN WITH TYRANTS, TERRORISTS, AND TIMIDCRATS!!!! (3-T's For World Peace))
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To: BGHater

No one these days embezzles for less than a billion. These people disgust me! How inept! What amateur pikers! “The gang that couldn’t shoot straight” They deserve our scorn and derision... :)


7 posted on 07/09/2009 2:01:34 PM PDT by MrDem (Monthly Special: Will write OPUS's for Whiners and Crybabies for no charge.)
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To: BGHater; STARWISE; maggief; penelopesire

Wonder if any of these people are connected to people connected in Chicago to bHo or in San Fran to Nanzi’s husband?

NationWIde says it all.


8 posted on 07/09/2009 2:11:27 PM PDT by hoosiermama (ONLY DEAD FISH GO WITH THE FLOW.......I am swimming with Sarahcudah! Sarah has read the tealeaves.)
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To: hoosiermama

More here:

http://www.mortgagefraud.org/journal/tag/afg-financial-group


9 posted on 07/09/2009 2:44:06 PM PDT by maggief
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To: hoosiermama; maggief

” Finally, AFG submitted the fraudulent applications with false statements and forged documents to mortgage lenders such as Countrywide Home Loans or New Century Mortgage Corp. where defendants JEFFREY PHELAN and PATRICK KUHL were employees. In exchange for a share in the illicit proceeds, PHELAN, KUHL and other still-uncharged lending institution employees made sure that the loan applications were processed quickly and without proper diligence or investigation.”

Countrywide says it all! It would be interesting to see if any of the names in maggies link have any connections to Obama and the dems (Chris Dodd..et al)

There are so many pay to play scams going on involving the democrats, it is hard to keep it all straight!


10 posted on 07/09/2009 3:45:12 PM PDT by penelopesire ("The only CHANGE you will get with the Democrats is the CHANGE left in your pocket")
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To: hoosiermama

Don’t know .. but Country Wide did get snookered for some of those mortages, according to B’berg.

Who knows what his hands are in. He’s extremely wealthy and purposely on the down low:

From 2007:

##

“Although Britt admitted the investigation failed to turn up “any heavy scandals,” he did publicize a rent dispute Paul Pelosi had with residents of a Lake Street apartment he owned. Reporters also received anonymous news clippings, some dating back 50 years, about political controversies involving the San Francisco insurance business of Paul Pelosi’s father and his brothers’ various dealings in the city.

“They’ve been trying to get me,” Paul Pelosi said at the time.

But the dustup showed that the businessman already had learned some political lessons. Even before Nancy Pelosi filed to run for office, her husband had sold the troublesome San Francisco apartment building and limited his investments to more congenial commercial property.

In fact, Nancy Pelosi’s most recent financial disclosure statement shows just how careful Paul Pelosi has been in his investment decisions. Because the federal statements require a politician to give only a range of value for investments, they show the Pelosis’ net worth was $14.7 million to $55 million in 2005, ranking them ninth in the House and 17th in the entire Congress.

The bulk of the Pelosis’ money comes from investments in stocks and real estate. Operating through Financial Leasing Services, his San Francisco investment firm, Paul Pelosi owns stock in companies including Microsoft, AT&T, Cisco Systems, Disney, Johnson & Johnson and a variety of tech stocks.

Real estate investments include a four-story office building at 45 Belden St. in the Financial District, office buildings on Battery and Sansome streets near the Embarcadero, a building housing a Walgreens drugstore near Ocean Beach and other commercial property in San Anselmo.

Other investments include a St. Helena vineyard worth between $5 million and $25 million, a $1 million-plus townhome in Norden (Nevada County), and minority interests in the Auberge du Soleil resort hotel in Rutherford, the CordeValle Golf Club in San Martin, and the Piatti Italian restaurant chain.”

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/01/MNG83NB37E1.DTL


11 posted on 07/09/2009 3:45:31 PM PDT by STARWISE (The Art & Science Institute of Chicago Politics NE Div: now open at the White House)
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To: BGHater

I guess ‘Madoff’ disease is catching.


12 posted on 07/09/2009 5:02:53 PM PDT by fortunecookie (Please pray for Anna, age 7, who waits for a new kidney.)
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To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
This has been going on all over the country and is still going on. This is merely the tip of the iceberg.

It's revolting. No wonder our economy is floundering. Soooo much greed. Sooo many of them, stealing millions right off the top, like with Madoff. While the rest of us in various similar lines of work, do our work honestly, for a mere pittance, and suffer the fallout of their greed. And how often is the money 'found', let alone restored to those directly robbed.

13 posted on 07/09/2009 5:06:51 PM PDT by fortunecookie (Please pray for Anna, age 7, who waits for a new kidney.)
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