Indiana Alleged Flipping Fraud "Right Out Of The Sopranos," Say Investigators

The Indianapolis Star reports:

• "Marion County prosecutors charged nine Indianapolis landlords with welfare fraud and theft this week, characterizing their operation as a sophisticated criminal enterprise that bilked nearly half a million dollars from the government and possibly millions more from private lenders. Investigators described a scheme involving numerous shell companies and at least nine partners -- a point man and eight "straw buyers" -- who flipped about 100 homes in poor neighborhoods, illegally enrolled them in the federal Section 8 housing program for the needy and let them sink into default."

The pending charges relate to allegations of lying to the government when enrolling in the Section 8 rental subsidy program. No charges have been brought in connection with mortgage fraud. Unclear is if the theft charges against the suspects relate to rent skimming (equity skimming) whereby they allegedly pocketed the HUD-subsidized tenants' rentals without making payments on the existing mortgages, the allegations of stripping of items of value from some of the homes when they became vacant, or the charges of taking of government money under false pretenses.

"It's right out of 'The Sopranos' -- season four, episode seven," said one investigator. A prosecutor commented, "I watched the episode ... and the only difference is the Sopranos burn the places down for the insurance money; in our cases, the houses were stripped " [of copper wiring, appliances and anything else salvageable]. Additional charges have not been ruled out, according to a prosecutor.

Those charged are: Anthony T. Moorman, 42, Kameron A. Beckum, 24, Jason A. Boyd, 36, Lawrence J. Howard Jr., 22, Corey J. Jones, 33, Walter J. Powell, 30, Keith L. Thacker, 35, John White Jr., 21, and John A. Williams Jr., 38. For more, see 9 charged with fraud in housing scheme (Section 8 program was bilked out of $472,624, prosecutors say).

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