Comments (3) | Add a comment
Escrow officer sentenced in mortgage fraud scheme
Tools
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
An escrow officer indicted in connection with Operation Stolen Dreams, a nationwide initiative aimed at combating mortgage fraud, was sentenced Wednesday in Las Vegas to two years in prison.
Brenda Jackson pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.
She was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson, who gave her until June 18 to surrender to prison. He also ordered her to join her co-defendant, real estate agent Curtis Briley, in paying about $1.8 million in restitution.
Briley pleaded guilty last month to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Dawson is scheduled to sentence him April 25.
Authorities said 123 defendants were charged, convicted or sentenced in Las Vegas during Operation Stolen Dreams, which began March 1, 2010. The results were announced June 17, 2010, the day after Jackson and Briley were indicted.
According to the indictment, the pair began conspiring in 2006 or 2007 and engaged in schemes that involved double escrows and straw buyers.
The indictment defines a fraudulent double escrow as "a real estate transaction involving two contracts at two different prices, with two different buyers, on the same property, closing escrow on the same day, intentionally not disclosed to the lender." Perpetrators of fraud use double escrows to divert money from mortgage loans for their personal use.
A straw buyer is a person who pretends to be a legitimate buyer for property in order to conceal the identity of the actual buyer.
According to the indictment, Briley and Jackson caused co-conspirator real estate appraisers to prepare appraisal reports that falsely overstated the value of properties and caused those appraisals to be submitted to lenders.
Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@review journal.com or 702-384-8710.
Comments
Terms & Conditions
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The Review-Journal does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please use the Report Abuse button.
Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 24 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
I worked as an Escrow Officer and our files were audited all the time. That Title Company is also to blame.
"co-conspirator real estate appraisers"....just as I have said before, the fraud ran up and down the entire house purchase transaction....suppose you were a legit purchaser and found out the appraisal done on your house was based on fraudulent activities..all the comps eventually went into foreclosure shortly after the completed appraisal for example...where do you turn for retribution? nowhere, right? I am glad to see the law enforcement efforts but what does this do for the underwater homeowner ?? where does the restitution money go?
STOLEN DREAMS? The ONLY Borrowers with damages (lost money) are those who: (1) obtained conservative mortgages (<80% LTV) and (2) stayed current (never defaulted) despite being increasingly upside down due to the Borrowers who defaulted. Yet, the damaged borrowers are ignored and mocked. REFINANCING? Even with refinancing of debt that exceeds property value, the borrowers who defaulted may still win in the end as they are not upside down! To make matters worse, Government refinancing programs, such as HARP1, is financially HARMFUL to borrowers who must pay upfront FEES (non-refundable) and pay tens of thousands of dollars to resolve any gap btwn existing loan balance and refinance amount. HARP2 removes refinance limit, but the honorable borrower is still upside down (loan > property value)! GOVERNMENT GETTING RICH. Who ever follows where the restitution (shakedown) money goes? It is spread within Government as seen my the many secret millionaires in government. REAL SOLUTION IGNORED. Years ago, Govt programs should have reduced Principal in phases to borrowers who stayed Current (never defaulted) on mortgages obtained from 2004-2007 (high point of boom). That would have avoided most or all defaults and real estate values would have been more stable and thus the economy. ADS. radio ads now offer "credit restoration" to those with foreclosure or short sale on record. So the FICO system has no integrity? TV ads say STOP paying your mortgage if upside down. Those who pay their mortgages are mocked as fools.