The Mortgage Fraud Index was released this week by the publication Mortgage Daily and it confirms what previous reports have shown. Despite a five-year low in legal actions for mortgage fraud nationwide, such actions actually rose in Florida in the last quarter of...
Mortgage Fraud
Bail Hearing Set For Florida Man Accused Of Real Estate Fraud
After spending several days in a Florida correctional facility without bail, a man implicated in a mortgage scheme was granted a bail hearing in an Orlando courthouse today. The 47-year-old man was arrested on Friday after being the subject of a three-year Federal...
Florida Joins Nevada As Top Mortgage Fraud Hotspot
According to the latest quarterly report from Interthinx, Florida was the state with the highest rates of mortgage fraud during the fourth quarter of 2012. The report categorizes mortgage fraud risk by state, by ZIP code, by property valuation and by occupancy....
$8.5 Million In Restitution Ordered In Mortgage Fraud Case
Four defendants who were found guilty and sentenced in September have finally received a restitution order. A mortgage fraud case involving five defendants yielded a substantial restitution order in the Northern District of Florida this week. Four of the defendants...
Federal Sentencing in the News, Part 2: Celebrity Sentences
This is the second post in a four-part series that looks at some recent headline-grabbing stories in the world of federal sentencing. Although various limits and recommendations exist to help guide sentence decisions, federal judges are ultimately empowered to choose...
A Federal Mortgage Fraud Prosecution in Hindsight, Part 2
Earlier this week, a previous post introduced the story of one defendant who found himself caught up in a massive government investigation after an IRS agent saw him in a TV interview. Based on nothing other than curiosity about how the man could afford to train for a...
A Federal Mortgage Fraud Prosecution in Hindsight, Part 1
Even compared to a 4,600 mile run across the Sahara Desert, 21 months in a federal prison was a harsh punishment for one man who recently completed his sentence. This man served the sentence after his epic desert run to raise awareness for clean water projects in...
Mortgage Fraud Cases Snare 530 Defendants
Federal authorities had a busy two weeks. In addition to the 92 defendants charged in a $432 million healthcare fraud bust last week, the government is now pursuing 530 people for mortgage fraud. The government claims that these defendants cost 73,000 homeowner...
Florida Mortgage Case Ends In Plea Deal For Fourth Defendant
In the conclusion to a scheme that began in 2006, a fourth defendant will face a criminal sentencing later this fall. The white collar crime case involved mortgage applications for 12 luxury homes in Florida. Three other defendants-all purported home buyers-are...
Lawyers And Mortgage Fraud
The American Bar Association reports that many of the defendants in mortgage and real-estate fraud prosecutions are lawyers. As a state that experienced a particularly painful real estate meltdown in recent years, several Florida lawyers figure prominently in the...
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