Startup Block66 is using blockchain to create a mortgage audit trail for fraud prevention purposes and also plans to enable trading of securities lenders can use to increase their liquidity.

One-time Modesto City Council candidate Robert Farrace, an attorney and real estate broker, was sentenced to two years in federal prison for defrauding real estate lenders.

The man authorities called the mastermind behind a complex mortgage fraud scheme targeting distressed properties was arrested June 7 in South Carolina and charged with being a fugitive in violation of probation.

Federal law enforcement authorities have arrested 74 people in this country and abroad, accusing them of participating in a wire fraud scam whose victims included real estate attorneys and settlement service providers.

Federal authorities charged a third real estate investor with bribery-related offenses in a long-running corruption probe of the process through which the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office sells seized and foreclosed properties.

Two Orange County, Calif., men were to federal prison for their part in a mortgage scheme that led to the fraudulent purchase of more then 100 condominium units and $10 million in losses.

Fannie Mae is warning mortgage lenders and servicers about possible fraud schemes in Los Angeles County involving "34 apparently fictitious employers being used on loan applications."

The ability-to-repay standard is responsible for the reduction in loan application defects over the past four-plus years, according to First American Financial.

A mortgage loan officer from Methuen, Mass., faces six months behind bars for her role in a conspiracy to defraud banks and mortgage companies.

Gary Klopp of Nottingham, Md., was ordered to pay more than $525,000 and temporarily barred from working in the mortgage industry by a U.S. District Court judge for violating a previous court order, according to Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh.

A ring of thieves illegally took ownership of more than 40 homes across South Florida in a multimillion-dollar plan — even stealing properties that belonged to the dead, authorities say.

A Texas lawyer pleaded guilty to his role in an elaborate $5 million mortgage fraud scheme involving pricey beach homes, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston.

The Federal Savings Bank has been under a spotlight since it was revealed that it provided $16 million in mortgages to onetime Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.

While mortgage application defect risk declined overall in March, at the local level it varied considerably, according to First American Financial Corp.'s Loan Application Defect Index.

The bank holding the mortgage on a home owned by a Wichita, Kans. woman accused of embezzling millions from two physician-owned medical businesses and her estranged husband has stated foreclosure proceedings.

WEI Mortgage discovered a data breach from an email phishing scam last fall that may have exposed loan package information and identifying data such as Social Security numbers.

A special agent who used to work for an investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement pleaded guilty to defrauding Freddie Mac and SunTrust Mortgage through a short sale.

There is now less fraud risk associated with adjustable-rate mortgage applications and this will offset some of the higher hazard associated with a purchase market.

Heads of a large real estate investment company with offices in Alaska and California have agreed to pay $3 million in fines for what a federal agency says was a scheme to "bilk" hundreds of investors out of millions of dollars.

Lonnie Brantley Jr. avoided prison by striking a plea deal for lying to federal housing regulators during an investigation into his troubled mortgage lending business.