Mortgage Fraud Indictments Drop in South Carolina
Recently an article on mortgage fraud in South Carolina was published on the Morning News Reporter column in South Carolina Now. The article described the reasons for the decrease in mortgage fraud indictments. These reasons do not make much sense to me. I have continually defended clients for mortgage fraud and the recent addition of a mortgage fraud hotline in South Carolina should increase the incidents of these cases, not decrease. The South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs credit the mortgage fraud hotline as a measure that has reduced the mortgage fraud rate. This hotline was just instituted in the past few months. Most of the lending and real estate transactions occurred prior to the recession and prior to this hotline.
As I have mentioned previously, mortgage fraud is going to increase dramatically this year and next year as the Justice Department has recently asked the FBI to assign over 100 agents to investigate these allegations. You can bet that there will be some innocent people indicted for mortgage fraud with the pressure being applied by the government to explain the vast number of foreclosures. There have been more than 400 real estate related indictments since March of this year. The FBI has code named the investigation "Operation Malicious Mortgage" and resulted in 60 arrests today. The FBI has stated that the target state will be Florida, Georgia, Texas, California, and Michigan. These are also the states with some of the highest foreclosure rates.
Targets of Mortgage Fraud Indictments:
Mortgage Brokers
Real Estate Agents
Lenders
Straw Buyers
Appraisers
Attorneys
The real estate boom caused many people with no experience in real estate speculation to get in over their heads and lose everything. Even if no illegal activity occurred in the real estate transaction, a complaint and improper information can get you indicted. If you are even remotely concerned about an indictment you need to speak with a criminal defense lawyer that is experienced in defending mortgage fraud indictments. Practicing in Miami for many years and defending multi-count indictments for fraud totaling almost 1 billion in loss provides the experience needed to defend your case.
A good mortgage fraud defense attorney is key. Our criminal defense attorneys are experienced in defending mortgage fraud cases throughout the country. Our criminal clients have come from all over the country. Defending mortgage fraud in Charleston, Miami, Palm Beach, Columbia, Myrtle Beach, Savannah and many other cities is an important aspect of our practice. A good criminal defense lawyer can save years of prison time and fines on a mortgage fraud indictment. Our criminal defense attorneys in Myrtle Beach and Charleston and Miami are ready to defend your mortgage fraud indictment.
