Mortgage scammer of the week
Like death and taxes, mortgage fraud is something you can count on -- no matter what the housing market looks like. A Laurel man just pleaded guilty to defrauding a lender of $428,000 in a scheme that was orchestrated at the end of 2008, against a backdrop of slumping sales and tightened lending requirements.
In the statement of facts attached to the plea agreement, Olu Campbell said he worked up a plan with an associate to convince a lender to extend mortgages on three Baltimore homes by making the purchases appear legitimate.
Campbell, who used to go by Oluseun Oshosanya, had worked as a loan officer and home renovator. His associate had appraisal experience. Together, they used that background to apply for loans on two of the properties -- just not as themselves.
Instead, they used the names and Social Security numbers of other men who had no idea they were being caught up in the fraud. Falsified details and documents were thrown in for good measure. According to the statement of facts, Campbell's associate produced a pay stub, W-2 wage statement and monthly statements from a bank -- all fake -- for one of the transactions.
But wait, there's more: Campbell himself showed up at that settlement with a doctored driver's license so he could pass himself off as the man whose identity he lifted.
Those two mortgages went into default almost immediately, as you can imagine, since the people whose names were on the loans had no idea they had supposedly purchased homes. The third transaction involved a straw buyer who knew her information would be used, and who paid the mortgage for about a year before defaulting.
What was in it for Campbell? A lot of money, he admitted to investigators. In a single transaction, about $110,000 went to his contracting company, Metropolitan Housing Associates LLC, "for the ostensible purpose of paying a 'contractor invoice,'" the statement of facts says.
"Campbell used $20,000.00 of his proceeds to purchase a used BMW," it adds in an aside.
Categories: Mortgage fraud/scams
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Comments
As good as it is he got caught, there are still many more out there that have gotten away with it. I believe Maryland was ranked 5th in the nation for loan fraud in 2008. Not sure what the ranking is in 2009, but can't imagine much improvement. Loan fraud statistics have actually gone up because lenders are doing more due diligence and quality control reviews on the loans before they fund.
Posted by: Frank Rizzo | February 3, 2010 8:06 PM
It would be nice to see and hear something writtien about honest mortgage loan officers. Some of us are not swindling the public and coming up with crazy schemes doomed to end up in proson where they should be regardless of the profession. Articles like this continue to fuel people's paranoia when seeking help. We need to balance the reporting so those who need help don't lose out due to paralysis from paranoia. Beleive it or not, there are some honest career-based mortgage professionals out here!
Posted by: Pete | February 6, 2010 7:28 AM