Mortgage fraud

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.

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.

Lenders need to be aware of a possible investor backlash as critical defects found in closed loans increased in frequency as the shift continued to a purchase market.

A former associate of Cook County Judge Jessica Arong O'Brien pleaded guilty Friday to her role in a $1.4 million mortgage fraud scheme and is expected to testify at O'Brien's criminal trial next month.

The Denver judge, who last spring ruled that former foreclosure king Larry Castle and his law firm did not violate state laws designed to protect consumers against fraudulent charges, was biased and made several missteps during the three-week bench trial leading up to his decision, the Colorado attorney general's office asserts in its appeal of the verdict.

After surging earlier in the year, the number of mortgage loan application defects remained flat in November, a positive sign when it comes to fraud incidents going forward.