Eighth Defendant in MMS Scheme Pleads Guilty

There now have been eight convictions in a Maryland case involving a fraud that falsely promised to help homeowners facing foreclosure keep their homes and repair their damaged credit. Kurt Fordham of Fort Washington, Md., pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the activities at Metropolitan Money Store, Lanham, Md. In May 2005, Joy Jackson, Fordham's wife, along with co-conspirator Jennifer McCall, incorporated MMS, which fraudulently promised to help troubled homeowners avoid foreclosure and repair their damaged credit. The homeowners were directed to allow title to their homes to be put in the names of third party purchasers for a year, during which time MMS promised to improve the homeowners' credit ratings and eventually return title to their homes to them. Using the homeowners' properties, the conspirators applied for mortgages to extract the maximum available equity from the homes and submitted fraudulent loan applications to lenders to obtain inflated loans on the properties in straw buyers' names. At settlements, the conspirators imposed numerous fees and required seller contributions that were far in excess of industry standards and imposed fees for services that were not performed. They also transferred the sale proceeds out of the escrow accounts into the conspirators' business and personal bank accounts and converted a substantial portion of those funds to their personal use. In addition to directing straw buyers to participate in the scheme, Fordham served as straw buyer on at least six properties. As a result of this scheme, the total loss attributable to Fordham is $13.6 million. Fordham is the eighth defendant to plead guilty in this scheme. Sentencing for Fordham if scheduled for July 10. Jackson and McCall also have entered guilty pleas.