Dozens Charged In Alleged Houston-Area Straw Buyer Fraud Scam

In Harris County, Texas, KTRK-TV Channel 13 (Houston) reports:

• Authorities are trying to track down the remaining suspects in a multimillion dollar mortgage scam here in Harris County. Thirty-seven people are accused of lying to get millions of dollars from a complex and illegal mortgage fraud ring. Some of the suspects were in court overnight. The judge called each name, including that of the alleged ringleaders, husband and wife, Obbie and Joyce Toliver. The Harris County district attorney's office unsealed the indictments yesterday, which reveals the alleged scam as one of the state's largest ever mortgage fraud scams. Obbie Toliver is accused of fraudulently buying 17 homes using other people's credit, ... . "At first blush, the pitch sounds kind of reasonable to you," said Harris County Assistant District Attorney Lester Blizzard. "The first pitch is, 'Hey, we need your credit. Put your name down. Just put your name down and everything will be just fine'." Authorities estimate at least 25 other people are involved in the alleged scam.

For more, see Dozens indicted of mortgage loan fraud.

For a related story involving Toliver, see Fraud suspect connected to county case (A Brazoria County indictment alleges a mortgage fraud was perpetrated by former Lake Jackson minister Harold Higgins and Obbie Toliver, whom Harris County prosecutors called a leader of a suspected Harris County scheme. Toliver is named in Higgins’ indictment but was not himself indicted in Brazoria County).