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Financial Fraud Law

What’s One Of The Fastest Growing White Collar Crimes? And What Are The Feds Doing About It?

We thought we’d pass along a bit of news we just received from the Justice Department about what it refers to as “one of the fastest growing white collar crimes” – mortgage fraud – and what it says it's doing to combat it. It seems to us that the government's efforts are a lot more than just words – and that's a great indication of what good government can do for us. 

The DOJ says that combating mortgage fraud is an “important element” in the Justice Department’s mission to protect the public, and that it is “partnering with state, local and tribal law enforcement to share information and provide the resources needed to successfully fight this type of crime.” The issue has reached the highest levels of the DOJ; Attorney General Eric Holder “has personally met with various officials to directly address the problem, and in April announced a multi-agency crackdown targeting foreclosure rescue scams and loan modification fraud.”
 
More importantly, the feds have turned that talk into action. For example, last week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida announced the results of a nine-month-long “Mortgage Fraud Surge” investigation that has resulted in charges against more than 100 defendants and involves allegations concerning more than $400 million in loans procured by fraud, on more than 700 properties.
 
Indeed, there now are federal mortgage fraud-related charges pending against approximately 500 defendants around the nation. The cases range from mortgage schemes designed to defraud mortgage lenders to “foreclosure rescue schemes,” which prey on distressed homeowners.
 
There’s also a DOJ Bureau of Justice Assistance (“BJA”) grant program, using Recovery Act funds, specific to mortgage fraud. The BJA has awarded Recovery Act funds to increase the number of state and local investigators, prosecutors, and crime prevention practitioners. More than $10.75 million in Recovery Act funds will support regional mortgage fraud task forces, which are central to coordinating local, state and federal investigations and prosecutions. The list of grant recipients can be found here: http://www.ojp.gov/recovery/pdfs/byrnemortfraud.pdf.

Bravo!

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