Dead Fraud
Two previously convicted mortgage brokers have been indicted for using the identities of dead people to commit mortgage fraud. But neither has yet been apprehended.
Mark D. Musselman, 48, of Piqua, Ohio, and his alleged accomplice, Mark S. Edwards, 49, of Clayton, Ohio, were indicted for allegedly using phony information to secure more than $1 million in mortgages from InterFirst Mortgage Lenders, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based unit of subprime lender ABN AMRO Mortgage.
Musselman's indictment included 59 felony criminal charges, while Edwards faces 48 charges, according to the Montgomery County Prosecutors office.
The criminal charges include engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity; aggravated theft of over $100,000; forgery; and tampering with records.
read the rest of Patrick's story at MortgageDaily.com
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LO Steals Down Payment
Bruce and Martha Miles thought they were putting down $53,000 with a North Carolina mortgage loan officer to buy a new house.
Instead, they lost their money, were forced to file and bankruptcy and don't have a new home.
"It's a not a good situation," the Raleigh, N.C., lawyer representing the couple, told MortgageDaily.com. "I'm just surprised how easy it is to (allegedly) steal money in the mortgage industry."
A loan officer and her associate are facing charges that they duped the couple into putting up the money for a mortgage and then spending the money on themselves.
read the rest of Patrick's story at MortgageDaily.com
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Chicago police and prosecutors have tied some of the fraud that allegedly took place at Associates to a $70 million fraud ring that totaled more than 100 phony mortgage applications and involved members of the Traveling Vice Lords street gang.