Houston FBI Pursuing Fraudsters With Mortgage Fraud Unit

Mortgage fraud has become so popular in the Houston area that the local FBI office has dedicated a unit within their office solely to fight mortgage fraud. The office currently has open about 25 multimillion-dollar cases involving various types of mortgage fraud.

This information, reported in an article in the Houston Chronicle at chron.com, is part of a larger story about a local individual who filed a civil lawsuit in 2004 against several people involving an alleged "straw buyer" scam. Subsequent to the civil lawsuit, one of the alleged scammers was indicted and arrested by the FBI. Ultimately, the scammer pleaded guilty to wire and mail fraud. Other charges against him were dropped "in exchange for his cooperation" (presumably for his cooperation in prosecuting his cohorts).

One point that I find notable here is that a civil lawsuit by a scam victim apparently preceded a criminal prosecution of the scam artists. This could possibly indicate that, given that criminal investigators may lack the resources to investigate every single case, bringing a civil lawsuit may be a way for "some" (financially well-heeled) victims to publicly bring attention to their cases and "discover" information from the scam artist (which could potentially be used in a subsequent criminal case), in addition to an attempt to recover damages.