Plea in "Property-Flipping" Mortgage Fraud Scheme

A DOJ press release of the Central District of California reminds everyone that mortgage fraud prosecutions are still a top "item."  The release tells of a plea agreement being reached with "[a] West Los Angeles mortgage banker, [who]  agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges in a massive mortgage fraud scam that caused more than $18.5 million in losses to banks, including his former employer."

The release notes that "[a]ccording to the Maize charges, Lehman Brothers Bank alone was deceived into funding about 40 such inflated loans from March 2000 through July 2002. These 40 loans were for more than $28 million over the true prices of the homes. According to court documents, Maize received hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks for his assistance in getting the loans approved. In 2001, he failed to report more than $175,000 of these kickbacks on his federal tax return."

(esp)