Mortgage fraud

A trio of Los Angeles-area real estate developers were accused by the federal government of taking $1.3 billion of investor funds that was supposed to be used for hard money loans for their own use.

Learning to understand the risk rather than adding steps to the mortgage application process is the way to mitigate fraud.

A Staten Island, N.Y., man involved in a $2.5 million real estate investment scheme that targeted investors, many of whom were elderly and some of whom had dementia, was sentenced to three years in prison.

A recent pyramid scheme highlights why mortgage lenders should keep an eye out for misrepresentation when reviewing electronic documents and signatures.

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.