wmlro.com: 41 defendants charged with mortgage related fraud

In some of the schemes, the defendants were charged with falsely inflating the values of dilapidated homes in urban areas. Other schemes feature a twist where defendants were charged with deals involving million-dollar condominiums in a Chicago high-rise and sprawling homes in affluent suburbs. A total of 37 individuals and four businesses, including a title company that closed on allegedly fraudulent loans, are facing new federal charges relating to mortgage fraud in five separate cases in Chicago, federal law enforcement officials say.

The defendants include a vice president of the title company, mortgage brokers, loan officers, real estate investors, appraisers and an attorney. Together the cases involve more than USD48 million in fraudulently-obtained mortgages issued by various lenders and secured by scores of residential properties in the Chicago area, including two in the suburbs of Wheaton and Glenview. As a result, the various lending companies suffered millions of dollars in losses after the loans went into default and the properties were foreclosed upon.

Among the cases are:

-- 19 defendants, including LaSalle Title Company and three other businesses, who allegedly schemed to fraudulently obtain loans totaling more than USD10 million on 70 residential properties in Chicago, including many blighted homes on the city's south side, resulting in losses totalling approximately USD5.8 million to various mortgage lenders;

-- 10 defendants accused of scheming to fraudulently obtain loans totalling more than USD17.2 million on various multi-million-dollar condominiums and penthouses at 33 West Ontario St., known as Millennium Centre;

-- six defendants accused of fraud and using stolen or fictitious identities to fraudulently obtain approximately USD3 million in home loans from various lenders by submitting false applications for loans; and

-- the chief executive of a Burr Ridge mortgage lender who allegedly defrauded GMAC Bank out of approximately USD15 million in funding more than 450 fictitious residential loans.

A year ago, 67 defendants were charged in a dozen mortgage fraud-related cases in Chicago, and another two dozen defendants were charged in multiple cases this past March stemming from an undercover
investigation in which law enforcement agents posed as straw buyers of houses.

In addition, scores of other defendants have been prosecuted in dozens of routine cases in the last couple of years, signifying the high priority that federal law enforcement officials give mortgage fraud in an effort to deter others from engaging in crimes relating to residential and commercial real estate.

Source: US Department of Justice