Compliance

The owner of a mortgage remodification company who defrauded 1,800 distressed homeowners in Phoenix has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire and mail fraud.

On Oct. 13, a federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment charging Hubert Rotteveel with mail fraud for a mortgage fraud scheme.

The bedrock of the U.S. mortgage market - the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage - may no longer have the same level of bipartisan support in Congress that it once did.

Metro Credit Union, of Chelsea, Mass., signed on with Boston Home Center to develop and enhance mortgage programs aimed at placing homeowners in sustainable mortgages.

Nine subservicing firms this week received approval to handle loans underlying Bank of America-owned Countrywide RMBS as part of a proposed $8.5 billion settlement.

Equifax is expanding the availability of technology it’s developed to aid mortgage investors analyzing whole loan portfolios before and after they’re purchased.

Bank of America said it is receiving more buyback requests for older vintages of loans from Fannie Mae and plans to contest some of these claims regarding breaches of representations and warranties.

Master servicers have been instrumental in dealing with the robosigning debacle in existing securitization deals, said participants at Information Management Network's ABS East Conference on Sunday.

The question of what should be done with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is drawing wildly different opinions.

A whistleblower lawsuit filed by two mortgage brokers has been unsealed in Federal District Court in Atlanta claiming that 13 banks and mortgage companies have cheated veterans out of hundreds of millions of dollars.

The risk management firms AllRegs and The Prieston Group have agreed to a multiyear commitment to join forces and offer risk assessment resources to the mortgage industry.

A New York real estate developer who led a mortgage fraud conspiracy resulting in more than $98 million in losses was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn to serve nine years in prison.

On Oct. 3, Mark Alan Helsing, a broker for "hard-money lenders," pleaded guilty to multiple felony counts for stealing $6.9 million from investors in a Ponzi and real estate fraud scheme, authorities said. He faces a potential term of 15 years in prison at his sentencing Dec. 5 by Superior Court Judge Craig E. Robison.

Officials from the government-sponsored enterprises continue to encourage lenders to be proactive with their appraisal and origination technology vendors in preparation for the new requirements in the Uniform Mortgage Data Program.

The government indicted a Philadelphia mortgage broker this week, accusing him of masterminding a $4 million mortgage fraud scheme that he allegedly ran through Police & Fire Federal Credit Union.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development late Wednesday said it suspended former LendAmerica president Michael Primeau from conducting any business with the agency after his admission that he engaged in a "wide-scale mortgage fraud scheme."

David Findel, the former CEO of Worldwide Financial Resources, has been sentenced to 63 months in prison for leading an $11 million fraudulent loan scheme.

An agreement has been reached between a risk management firm and a law firm that allows both firms to bring together their services regarding all aspects of residential mortgage banking.

The well-documented flaws in the mortgage loan origination process over the last few years have resulted in stringent regulations designed to bring sanity back to lending, albeit with more stick than carrot.

The California Department of Industrial Relations alleges that over a four-year period, ZipRealty paid its real estate agent employees “less than the minimum wage and no premium for overtime hours worked” because the real estate brokerage improperly classified its agents as outside contractors. The lawsuit requests at least $7.5 million in wages, $1.25 million in overtime and $9 million in penalties.