South Florida Realtor Finds Himself In The Middle Of A Cash Back Mortgage Fraud

In South Florida, the Daily Business Review recently reported:

• "It took real estate broker Wayne Blackburn less than a minute to spot the fraud in documents for a pending Fort Lauderdale home sale. A settlement statement showed a $1.2 million purchase price when the contract price was $830,000. The buyer’s name had been changed to Edimar DaSilva from Alex Costa. An unrecorded $237,080 second mortgage to a construction company was to be paid off at closing. The papers said sellers Gordon and Paula Clelland were holding $70,000 of an $80,000 deposit on the house and were to give DaSilva a $33,268 credit toward closing costs. Blackburn knew none of it was true. It turned out there was no second mortgage, and the actual deposit had been $20,000. [...] It’s not even clear if the first buyer, Alex Costa, even exists. If the sale had closed with lender Washington Mutual, the cashback deal allegedly would have allowed DaSilva to walk away with more than $330,000 on closing day and the house."

To find out what happens next, see Mortgage fraud’s latest fashion. (link OK as of 7-23-07; 10:39 am - EST)