Income-related mortgage application fraud risk has the potential to increase as competition rises among buyers during the peak spring season, First American said.

With a second defendant pleading guilty to conspiracy, it was learned that a Watertown, N.Y., apartment complex is among dozens of rental properties in that state and several others that allegedly received $500 million in fraudulent bank loans.

Just minutes after his federal prison sentence was raised, Paul Manafort was charged by New York state prosecutors with residential mortgage fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records.

David Plunkett, a 53-year-old accountant in Lynn, Mass., pleaded guilty to bank fraud this week for his part in a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders between 2006 and 2015.

A strong spring home purchase season is likely to further increase mortgage loan application defect risk, which already spiked in the past two months, according to First American.

Mortgage application defect risk was at its highest level in four years because of higher interest rates as well as natural disasters during the latter part of 2018, according to First American.

The government shutdown could affect mortgage origination credit quality as lenders miss some red flags normally found using data that is not currently available, according to Moody's.

Mortgage application fraud risk continued growing for the fifth consecutive month, and the recent California wildfires are partly to blame, according to First American Financial Corp.

A Wilmington Township, Pa., man accused of illegally purchasing properties he formerly owned through a tax sale has pleaded guilty to a felony charge of deceptive business practices.

A Flora Vista, N.M., man accused of five felony charges for forging a signature on real estate paperwork then ordering an employee to dispose of property from the victim's residence has agreed to a plea agreement.

Five Florida Keys men ripped off the federal government and received thousands of dollars in recovery money after Hurricane Irma struck last year, the Monroe County State Attorney's Office said.

Time and again, two former associates of President Trump deceived banks in connection with loan applications. Their wealth, proximity to power and willingness to tell big lies all appear to have helped them get away with brazen schemes.

Wire fraud is considered a consumer and title agent issue, but the millions of dollars it's diverting from home purchase transactions make it an issue mortgage lenders need to address, too.

There was an 8% year-over-year increase in mortgage loan application defect risk in California during October and that should rise further because of the wildfires that devastated the state, First American said.

Orlando real estate broker Geo Geovanni, 49, was found guilty in federal court of one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and three counts of bank fraud, the U.S. Attorney's office announced.

The Federal Savings Bank is trying to persuade a judge to look beyond its CEO's alleged complicity in a fraud perpetrated by President Trump's former campaign chair.

Two more real estate investors have admitted conspiring to rig bids at foreclosure auctions, bringing to nine the total who say they cheated at the public auctions held at South Mississippi courthouses.

Fintech adoption among real estate and title agents is accelerating, though their optimism on the housing market has tanked, according to First American Financial Corp.

The scheme's perpetrators were based in Irvine, Calif., the FTC said in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland.

Three people who fraudulently obtained $9.3 million in mortgage loans involving homes in Modesto, Patterson and Lathrop, Calif., have received multiyear federal prison sentences.