12 indicted in Atlanta mortgage fraud scheme

Local authorities said Monday they charged 12 men with an elaborate mortgage fraud scheme in Atlanta’s West End neighborhood and seized more than $200,000 of assets.

In indictments filed last week, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard Jr. accused the men of buying and selling nine homes using false appraisals that were more than double the homes’ actual value. Seven of the houses were in the 30310 zip code in the West End, where 26 homes were put up for foreclosure auction in late June.

The homes are just a handful of ones in the 30310 zip code, bordered by I-20 to the north and Ga. 166, that sit vacant and neglected largely as a result of the fraud scheme or fallout from the nation’s credit crisis. Many have been bought and then foreclosed upon more than once, making them prime targets for mortgage fraud, said Detective Robert McFall, an investigator with the Atlanta Police Department’s major fraud unit.

McFall said his work is not finished: there are “thousands” of homes in the Atlanta area that are tied to mortgage fraud.

Atlanta has as much mortgage fraud as any other major city — but mortgage fraud is only a small contributor to the nation’s overall housing crisis, said Brinkley Dickerson, a corporate partner with Troutman Sanders.

“(Mortgage fraud) creates an overvaluation of the properties, and it feeds on itself,” Dickerson said. “But it’s the easy advance of credit to people who should not have received it that led to the mortgage crisis.”

Jude Rasmus, president of Marietta-based Rasmus Real Estate Group, said lenders are getting smarter and requiring more information from appraisers in an effort to prevent mortgage fraud.

“We for years were telling them that you’ve got to stop selling these properties to people when you know it’s a bad loan,” Rasmus said.

Investigators have seized more than $200,000 in homes, cars and other assets, Howard said. He said he is hoping to use the money to hire additional investigators to handle the glut of mortgage fraud complaints.

Five of the men were arrested last Thursday, according to court documents. Investigators are looking for the seven other men and have warrants out for their arrests.

All 12 have been charged with residential mortgage fraud and racketeering in two separate indictments. Court documents show the fraudulent buying and selling took place between Sept. 13, 2005, and Sept. 29, 2006, as well as between April 6, 2006 and March 20, 2007.

Under the alleged scheme, one of the participants would buy a home for about $100,000 and then get an inflated appraisal for $250,000 to $300,000, authorities said. That person would then find a so-called “straw,” or fictitious buyer, to file a false mortgage application to obtain a loan.

Another person would help facilitate the entire transactions and receive kickbacks from the false deal, authorities said.

“So, banks are holding a paper note for $320,000, and the homes are only worth $150,000, but the banks are saying, ‘Where’s the rest of my money?’” Howard said.