Mortgage fraud

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.

It is important for lenders to understand in what locations and property types their application fraud risk rests as the market share of purchase loans rises.

The Chicago bank is denying a report that its CEO, Steve Calk, made $16 million in mortgage loans to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in exchange for a job in the White House.

A Bucks County, Pa., man is charged with lying to federal housing officials in a series of forged financial statements in order to serve as an approved mortgage lender for the Federal Housing Administration.