Indiana Feds Indict Fort Wayne Mortgage Broker

In Indiana, the Journal Gazette reports that Justin L. Stuckey, a Fort Wayne mortgage broker, has been indicted on federal wire fraud charges as part of fraudulently obtaining $5.5 million in mortgages that resulted in nearly 150 home foreclosures. The indictment, handed up by a federal grand jury on Thursday, follows a civil lawsuit filed 16 months ago by nationwide mortgage lender ABN Amro Mortgage Group in an Indiana Federal Court against Stuckey and several others involved in the deals. Both cases allege Stuckey, as owner and operator of Maximum Mortgage in Fort Wayne, obtained fraudulent loans through ABN Amro for investors buying rental properties from landlord Rex Wells and Wells’ company, Alliance Property Management. For more, see:

• Fraud charges filed in sale of 55 houses
• Current Criminal Indictment (May 24, 2007) - U.S.A. vs. Stuckey
• Prior Civil Lawsuit (January 26, 2006) - ABN Amro vs. Stuckey, et al.
• Journal Gazette story on earlier civil lawsuit Mortgage fraud alleged in 149 transactions (Lawsuit blames price scheme; novice investors go bust)