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something about this story jumps right up at me...

Mortgage Fraud Bust Linked to Stockton Homes

- The FBI says Iftikhar Ahmad, 36, made millions by buying and selling more than 100 houses over the past eleven years.

- According to a complaint and supporting affidavit filed in federal court, many of the transactions involved a quick turnaround with a dramatic price increase.

- Many of the mortgages came from subprime lenders and in some cases the buyers used stolen identities, according to the FBI.

- In many of the real estate transactions, the buyers defaulted within a year.

- The FBI believes Ahmad sent at least $484,000 of the money to his native Pakistan.

- Investigators say Robert Ortiz Alfaro bought two homes from Ahmad with a combined purchase price of $520,000. Both homes went into foreclosure. Manpreet Singh, 24, also bought two houses from Ahmad worth a total of $695,000, according to the FBI. One of them went into default within months of the transaction. Ahmad, Alfaro and Singh face charges of mail fraud. Ahmad also faces money laundering charges.


So, you have lots of "ill gotten" cash that you need to get into banks without raising suspicion. You find a willing accomplice who can act as a real estate agent and you buy homes using a set of false or stolen identities and you use the cash in less than 10,000 dollar increments to "salt" the bank accounts of the stolen identities, so as to provide the basic requirements necessary to secure a loan. You then get subprime mortgages to buy the property using the stolen identity( Im guessing that there were lots of people at George Costanzas "Vandelay industries" who were taking out sub-prime loans), the money for the purchase of the house goes to your escrow account from the sub-prime lender and is then deposited in your confederates banks.

...and three months later, you and your false identity are nowhere to be found, the 'salted account" is emptied, and the house sits vacant, only to be foreclosed by the subprime lender, who now has a house worth 50% of the value loaned. This is how you rob a bank, without using a gun.

Identity theft. Mortgage fraud. Money Laundering. Pakistan.

How much you want to bet that this isn't an isolated case?

A friend in the real estate business once told me " The real money isnt in selling drugs, its in selling the real estate that the drugs buy..."


More here at the Mortgage Fruad Blog

Posted @ August 17, 2007 08:30 AM | Current Affairs

Comments

Well, that is a pretty scary thought! Thanks for sharing, though.

Posted by: FSBO Louisville at August 17, 2007 01:10 PM

I had a relevant comment but it got rejected for questionable content. Could it be that your filter is too sensitive? Also note that the typekey login isn't working.

Posted by: triticale at August 17, 2007 06:32 PM

its a funny thing about the filter, because I get upwards of 50 comments every day that i have to clear by hand, even with the filter on.

and there are times when it grabs the most innocuous things too, so its real hit and miss.

Posted by: frank martin at August 17, 2007 08:50 PM

> it's real hit and miss.

More miss than hit, Frank. It's rejected so many missives I've gotten to the point of flat out quitting when I see it, since it does not provide a clue as to WHAT its problem is with.

Either one of us could eat a case of beans and fart better code.

Posted by: Vittle at August 20, 2007 01:52 AM