Six Indicted In Alleged $14M Mortgage Fraud Scam

The Kansas City Star reports:

• A federal grand jury in Kansas has charged six Kansas City area individuals in a $14 million mortgage fraud that preyed on low-income homebuyers. The indictment described a scheme that relied on false real estate appraisals that inflated the value of homes, so banks would lend more money than property was worth. The indictment said the additional funds ended up in defendants’ accounts.

• The indictment names Wildor Washington Jr., 37, of Leawood; Maurice Ragland, 33, of Lee’s Summit; Victoria Bennett, 34, of Leawood; Kara E. Robinson-Franks, 37, of Grandview; Scott Alexander, 69, of Merriam; and Terrence Cole, 41, of Kansas City, Kan.

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• The defendants owned or worked for several businesses involved in the alleged scheme: Heritage Financial Investments, Legacy Enterprises, B&L Custom Development, Liberty Escrow, TERM Appraisers, the Real Estate Group, JTF Enterprises and Atlantic Mortgage.

• The fraud’s targets were homebuyers with low incomes or little knowledge about real estate, according to the indictment. It said these homebuyers were unaware of the fraudulent information in the loan applications.

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• The group validated the fraud by stealing the identities of legitimate real estate appraisers, according to the charges. They found appraisers’ license numbers on the Internet and forged signatures, or in some cases “cut and paste” legitimate signatures onto false appraisals, the indictment said. The fraud also relied on nonexistent appraisers whose identities the group created.

For more, see Six area individuals charged in $14 million mortgage fraud scheme.