Indianapolis Landlord Charged In Alleged Equity Skimming Scheme; Deutsche Bank Chairman Listed As Potential Witness

The Indianapolis Star reports that Marion County prosecutors filed welfare fraud and theft charges Wednesday against Brent E. Perkins, 27, in an alleged scam involving his being accused of a failure to make mortgage payments on a house he rented to a tenant even as the U.S. government sent $4,045 in rent checks to him on behalf of the tenant under the Federal Section 8 subsidized rental housing program. Perkins may have been involved in a flipping operation where he reportedly purchased six Indianapolis properties that all ended up in foreclosure, according to the story.

The article points out a possible subplot to this story:

• "[T]he Perkins case stands out because Marion County prosecutors could subpoena as a witness Josef Ackermann, chairman of Deutsche Bank, the largest bank based in Germany. Deutsche Bank is not charged with a crime, but it acted as trustee for some of Perkins' lenders. Housing officials say the German bank could provide insight into the lending process. Ackermann's name appears on the prosecution's list of possible witnesses. "What we're seeing is properties are being flipped four and five times, being bought and sold over and over again, and still the banks keep making the loans," said Rufus "Bud" Myers, executive director of the Indianapolis Housing Agency, which manages the city's Section 8 program."

For more, see Landlord accused in fraud, theft case (Steakhouse employee charged with failing to pay mortgage on Section 8 property).