Mortgage fraud

Mortgage application fraud risk dropped drastically from 2019 with the spike in refinances, but the fallout from the coronavirus means next year could come with more risk, according to CoreLogic.

Mortgage companies contended with an average of 1,316 fraud attempts per month in 2020, up from 1,280 in the previous year, according to the latest study by LexisNexis Risk Solutions.

Twelve people were charged in a scheme regarding the creation of 100 fraudulent mortgages in Georgia, according to the HUD inspector general.

Taylor, Bean & Whitaker's former chairman and CEO, Lee Farkas, led a $2.9 billion mortgage fraud scheme during the housing crash but was released early from prison due to susceptibility of COVID-19 transmission.

Lenders and vendors are starting to realize that there are both areas in which artificial intelligence can be used more broadly, and areas in which technology’s role should be limited.

The refinance boom kept mortgage loan application defect risk flat, with record-low levels in July, but fraud risk for purchases climbed again, according to First American Financial.

A Quincy, Mass., real estate broker pleaded not guilty to nine charges, including money laundering and forgery, for what prosecutors say is the theft of $800,000 from deposit checks.

The proprietors of the Lorraine Hotel in downtown Toledo have received multi-year prison sentences from a federal judge for orchestrating a $3.9 million fraudulent real-estate investment scheme, while a third person received probation.

Ken Casey, a now-deceased Marin County, Calif., real estate developer, is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for fraud.

A Dallas developer has admitted to paying bribes to a former city councilwoman in exchange for her lobbying efforts and votes to provide $650,000 in taxpayer money for his Fair Park apartment project.