Foreclosures Spell Boom Time For Prosecutors
December 15th, 2008
The foreclosures and its related issues are spelling boom time for prosecutors. Although big names like Bear Stearns, Washington Mutual, Lehman Brothers and the like have been grabbing the headlines, quietly behind the scenes another drama is unfolding. Prosecutions are being steadily carried on at the local level against the comparatively less important players.
In dozens of courts dotted across the country the federal prosecutors are bringing charges against innumerable people who had originated bad mortgages that caused the derailment of the economy of not only America but also the world.
These culprits manufactured false identities so as to get house mortgage loans sanctioned. The brokers reaped huge commissions to see to the approval of these defective mortgages and lenders took con money to forge documents. Fraudulently the value of property was inflated, as was the income of the borrowers. Illegal steps were resorted to get the loans sanctioned to borrowers who could ill afford these. Wall Street gave plenty of encouragement to these nefarious activities.
As a result the boom occurred to be followed by the inevitable crash. Foreclosures are now solely responsible for bringing down property prices, causing stagnation in the building industry leading to a chain of unemployment. Bonafide lenders have become wary of granting loans. As a result the have raised their fees and will talk only with those with stainless credit record. The irony is that fraudulent practices are still continuing as cornered foreclosure victims are trying to offload mortgages that they no longer can afford and builders are trying to get rid of unwanted properties.
Attorney McGregor Scott whose field of work covers the extensive Central Valley said, “Let’s not lose sight of the fact that there is immense criminal fraud involved in this financial crisis. It’s a profound ripple effect that affects everyone.”
The Justice Department of America has created over 40 fraud task forces to deal with mortgage fraud across the country. Prosecutors as well as investigators are overwhelmed with innumerable cases of mortgage scam. FBI reports doubling of its mortgage fraud files within a span of three years. Today FBI is looking into 1,600 cases while a year ago it was a mere 120!From July to the end of October the federal prosecutors brought charges against 226 persons. From March to June another 406 had been charged. Scott added, “We’re running out of bodies to handle these cases. We’re just being overwhelmed.”
- Spurt in Sales of Foreclosed Properties
- Foreclosure Climate Changes Spirit of Competition to Cooperation Among Contractors
- Bouncing Cheques Issued by Title Companies Lead to Foreclosures
- Increase in Foreclosures Prompting Class Action Legal Suits
- Avoiding Foreclosures by Walking Away From Loans are not Without Problems
- Foreclosure Assistance Being Taken on Tour by Housing Advocate
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