Feds Investigate Baltimore Area Tax Lien Sales

The Baltimore Sun reports:

• "Federal agents have raided two Baltimore County [Maryland] real estate businesses and seized a wide range of records as part of a criminal investigation into municipal auctions of property tax liens. Search warrants show that the FBI obtained the records to support a probe into possible mail fraud and restraint-of-trade violations. [...] The federal probe raises questions about how the annual tax sales are conducted. In these auctions, investors bid over the Internet for the right to collect back taxes or unpaid municipal fees from delinquent homeowners. The investors can then sue to take the house if the bills, plus interest and fees, aren't paid. [...] In last year's Baltimore tax sale, ... more than 100 companies or individuals bid for about 7,400 tax certificates sold to investors. But just three investment groups won more than two-thirds of the total, city records show. Two of those groups were the targets of simultaneous raids by the FBI on Aug. 9."

For more, see Probe targets tax-lien sales (U.S. agents raid 2 area businesses).

For story update, see Probe of tax sale bids (Federal grand jury subpoenas records on bidding patterns). bidding